Birmingham City University is among the first academic institutions to take advantage of the £5 million funding being made available by the Dept. of Health, enabling them to install the pioneering VERT system, which transforms the way in which Radiotherapy students are taught.
VERT (Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Training) has been developed by Vertual Ltd, and draws on Virtual Reality technology from Virtalis, Europe’s leading Virtual Reality company.
For the VERT software to give the level of realism it was designed to provide, a VR stereoscopic 3D visualization system was required. Virtalis, who supply the visualization equipment for VERT, duly installed and provided training for its StereoWorks ActiveWall tracked system.
Incorporating into the package Christie Mirage S+6K three-chip stereoscopic projection, VERT represents a unique approach to Radiotherapy training.
Having been one of the three early adopters of the smaller scale Seminar VERT, once the Dept. of Health funding was rolled-out, Birmingham City University was determined to apply for a full Immersive VERT environment, relocating its original system to the Edgbaston Campus. “Immersive was the gold standard to aim for but because we have now experienced both the Seminar and Immersive VERTs we are at an advantage,” believes Julie Hall, Programme Director on the three-year B.Sc. Radiotherapy course at the University’s Faculty of Health.
Birmingham City University is one of only ten educational institutions in the country to offer Radiotherapy training. However there are now in excess of 40 VERT systems out in the field — many featuring the Christie Mirages — with Birmingham among the ten specialist universities who can offer complete immersion.
Utilising dual channel active 3D stereoscopic rear projection at 1:1 scale, the new system creates a life-sized treatment room onto a 4.9m x 2.1m screen – including all equipment as well as a patient on a treatment table. This allows trainees and qualified radiographers to practice cancer treatment in a real life situation, within a 60 sq. metre auditorium.
The student’s movement is tracked and his field of view alters as he moves. Alternatively, an instructor can use the entire wall of the room to demonstrate concepts to a classroom of students. Since the 3D images of the virtual radiotherapy treatment room are rear projected, the trainee/ instructor can walk in front of the screen on a staged area without creating a shadow, making it ideal for both solo training or classroom teaching.
The system works by using an actual radiotherapy handset in combination with 3D technology to recreate the radiotherapy machine (known as a linear accelerator or ‘linac’), the room in which it is situated and the patient lying on the couch.
Julie Hall explains: “This reinforces the learning experience and makes VERT a viable alternative to the real thing. We can also do things that are not normally possible such as looking inside the virtual patient to see the anatomy, the location of the tumour and radiotherapy treatment beams.”
Students can engage with this by donning active wireless stereoscopic shutter glasses, with the option of a wireless tracking bar using fused ultrasonic and inertial tracking technology to offer precision accuracy in 3D space. In the virtual world they can also interact with millions of volts of radiation beams.
Virtalis account manager Julian Ford, says the challenge was to provide the optimum integrated end-to-end solution using the products fit for purpose. Central to this are the screen and projection.
The former is fabricated from a tensioned, flexible fabric material designed specifically for blended multi-channel rear projection configurations. Its properties boast excellent contrast enhancement and black levels, uniformity of colour rendition and brightness whilst maintaining unity gain. “In fact its optical characteristics are extremely similar to, if not better than, rigid rear projection screens costing several times more,” he states.
Matched with the image quality and clarity provided by the Mirage S+6K SXGA+, 6500 ANSI lumens projectors, with their immense processing power, internal edge-blending and optional image warping, it provides an irresistible combination.
“We wouldn’t hesitate to specify Mirages in an installation such as this,” he continued. “There are very few projectors that you are able to drive in stereoscopic mode — they either don’t have the bandwidth or the combination of the three-chip DLP, the resolution and the brightness. We like the three-chip DLP for its quality, its colour, separation and contrast, and have put literally hundreds of these out in the field in single, dual or triple configuration. On top of everything, we have a good relationship with Christie themselves.”
Mark Holland, radiographer and senior lecturer at Birmingham City University, agrees. “When we first saw this system come alive you could see the difference right away — it was much better quality than we had experienced before. These projectors are really powerful and the brightness is immense.”
Students are able to experiment in a risk-free, life-like environment, without tying up actual radiotherapy treatment rooms, he says. “A bigger emphasis on virtual training will improve a patient’s experience as it will lead to fewer people in the room. Already we are finding our VR theatre more useful than we had originally imagined. Without the Virtalis StereoWorks system, VERT would be just 2D software, but with it, it is transformed into an immersive, life-like stereoscopic 3D experience.”
While this means they are more confident about using the equipment when they go on to their first placement with real patients, confidence in using the VR technology is an equal factor. “For anyone who feels intimidated we have a touch screen interface, remote handhelds and they can track and rotate movement,” says Mark. “The goal is to combine all these elements and for anyone unsure the touch screen interface on the standard PC will allow them to control aspects such as rotations.”
He adds that the presence of an advanced visualization resource is also proving a compelling sales tool for attracting would-be students. “Being able to show potential students radiotherapy via the VERT has certainly improved recruitment as it’s hard to sell radiotherapy standing at a desk. Although clinical placement remains invaluable, with VERT we can teach the technical side of what can be set up.”
Aside from enabling students to experience the radiotherapy treatment room “virtually”, Mark Holland confirms that it makes other elements, such as anatomy, which are hard to explain in the lecture theatre, immediately graspable. “Our VERT system can even do things that real life radiotherapy machines can’t. For example, it can visualize how beams of radiation travel within the body and how this affects the distribution of the dose. In addition, students on clinical placements also attend dedicated simulation weeks here at the University.
“I’m a big fan of keeping it simple,” he summarises. “Virtalis have been great to work with and the hardware is extremely easy to use; there are just a lot more capabilities than on our earlier VERT.”
Mark’s team is now deploying the VERT system on the diagnostic side of its radiotherapy work as part of some postgraduate courses, such as CT imaging, while at Edgbaston there are plans to bring VERT to other allied professions, such as nursing, who would benefit from understanding more about radiotherapy. They are also developing the auditorium into a 5.1 surround space to extend the element of realism sonically as well as visually.