Learning Apps and Tools | News

iPad App Delivers 3D Views into Anatomy

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/04/12

Medical and healthcare students will be able to visually drill into 3D images of the human body with a new iPad app launched this week by Healthline Networks. The company, which focuses on delivering objective and accurate health information, has launched Healthline BodyMaps for the iPad, an app that shows anatomical structures from the skin through the layers of muscles down to the organs and bones. Users can also view illustrated videos that show how the parts of the body work in combination in high resolution detail.

BodyMaps was created in partnership with GE Healthymagination and Visible Productions, which produced the 3D modeling, high resolution graphics, and animations. Healthline added its "Medically Guided Search" technology and additional educational content.

BodyMaps depicts over a thousand anatomical structures, including 30 rotatable models of parts of the body such as the eye, knee, and heart, for both men and women. It also offers 200 videos covering specific conditions and related symptoms, procedures, and treatments. The user navigates through almost all layers of the anatomy with the iPad's pinch and expand, drag, and tap features. The content is searchable using both clinical and everyday terms. A mark-up tool allows the user to draw on an image to illustrate specific conditions, procedures, or therapies, and the images can be shared via email or Facebook.

"I see BodyMaps as both a learning and teaching tool for nurses, healthcare, and bodyworkers, even high school and elementary students first learning anatomy. It's a great patient education tool for ancillary staff in the physician's office," said Gloria Horns, a nurse educator who works for the University of California, San Francisco. "Great visuals make BodyMaps the perfect tool for short, teachable, moments, and the markup and email function is ideal for subsequent patient reference at home. Medical professionals could also use this with patients in a hospital setting."

The app is available in the iTunes app store. A single gender version is $8.99; both genders are $14.99. Academic institutions can do volume discounts through Apple's education volume purchasing program.