'X-ray vision' aids medical diagnoses.

In 1988, with both interest and concern, Henry Fuchs watched his pregnant wife undergo her first amniocentesis, a medical test for possible abnormalities in their developing baby. He was struck by the apparent awkwardness of the procedure. A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill computer expert specializing in what the public calls "virtual reality," Fuchs thought it could be done better by positioning the images inside the patient, showing the fetus in its proper location within the mother's body -- sort of like Superman's X-ray vision. Since then, he and colleagues have been developing systems that may revolutionize certain key medical diagnosis and treatment methods within 20 years. They believe their efforts, which are medical firsts, also could save money and shorten recovery time.

The scientists are marrying ultrasound and virtual reality technologies to create three-dimensional images. When physicians wear computer-linked. headmounted displays that resemble overgrown goggles, the effect is almost like having X-ray vision to look into the patient's body.

In their first application, those images will help physicians more accurately take needle biopsies of women's breasts that contain suspicious, possibly cancerous, lumps. The researchers have used them successfully with scores of artificial breasts and in experimental tests with several women previously diagnosed with benign breast cysts.

"Although we still have much work to do, I think this approach is promising because it is a more direct, natural, and intuitive way to view tumors, for example, or babies in three dimensions within the mother than having to interpret flat pictures on a two-dimensional video screen," Fuchs indicates. "We were inspired by amniocentesis as an application, but we switched to...