Researchers from the Fuyo and Saitama Medical University International Medical Centers have developed a simulator that will allow doctors, residents, and students to practice risky and complicated vascular surgical procedures in the brain without putting real patients at risk. The simulator, called Cybram 001 Cybernetic Brain Artery Model, is a life-sized, transparent plastic body with an anatomically correct network of blood vessels that run from the groin to the cerebral artery in the brain. The vessels actually contain liquid (shown to be water in the video) whose flow and pressure can be adjusted by a circulation pump and pressure control circuit on the simulator, allowing the user to practice on a simulated patient with various vascular conditions.
Because the Cybram 001 is transparent, it can be used for much more than just giving doctors in training and med school students experience in catheterization to treat an aneurysm or brain tumor. The researchers hope it will also be utilized for university lectures and demos, for testing medical devices, and for use with angiography equipment in a radiographic setting.
(HT: Gizmodo)