Fujitsu VR Heart Simulator Viewer to Be Utilized in University of Tokyo Lecture

Fujitsu today announces that the University of
Tokyo will use heart simulator viewers with stereoscopic displays compatible
with virtual reality (VR)(1) technology
in an electrocardiogram lecture for third year students in the Faculty of
Medicine. This lecture, given by Associate Professor Toshiaki Nakajima of
Dokkyo Medical University Heart Center, is scheduled for September 13.

The heart viewer utilizes as content the output
data from a heart simulator jointly developed by Fujitsu and University of
Tokyo using the K computer(2) as well as
a computer cluster. In this lecture, students will be able to see for
themselves the complexity of “excitation propagation,” a phenomenon
whereby electric stimulation from pacemaker cells spreads throughout the heart,
with a stereoscopic, 360-degree view utilizing VR, allowing them to understand
how electrocardiograms are created through this process. Fujitsu has also
prepared simulation models recreating conditions such as cardiac infarction,
which also enables students to review the differences in excitation propagation
between a normal heart and a diseased heart.

Based on its use in the University of Tokyo’s
lecture, Fujitsu will proceed with the development of the heart viewer with an
aim toward product commercialization within Fujitsu’s fiscal 2017 (ending March
31, 2018) for use as a more effective educational tool while contributing to
the advancement of medicine.

Figure:
Stereoscopic view with a heart viewer

Heart disease is currently one of the leading
causes of death in developed nations (number 2 in Japan, number 1 in the US),
and many treatment methods and treatment devices are being researched and
developed every day.

The heart is one of the most intricate
structures in the body, making it difficult to learn about its complex
movements and flow of blood from textbooks and other literature. More
specifically, it is said that gaining an understanding of the relationship
between the waveforms shown on an electrocardiogram and excitation propagation,
which medical students learn early in their studies, is particularly
problematic. The contractions of the heart caused by the electrical stimulus
conveyed from certain pacemaker-type cells that exist in the heart to the heart
muscles are displayed in an electrocardiogram in the form of a signal. The
electrocardiogram itself is normally represented with a graph. At the same
time, textbooks and existing educational materials have not been able to
faithfully communicate the propagation process because the electrical signal
spreads across cardiac muscle in a complex manner, three dimensionally.

Fujitsu has now made it possible to use the data
output from heart simulations that faithfully recreate the behavior of the heart
for use as a teaching material. Moreover, by providing a stereoscopic view with
VR, this technology supports the efficient teaching of medical students,
enabling them to really see such factors as the interrelation between the graph
shown on the electrocardiogram and the propagation of electrical signals, and
the difference between the behaviors of the heart both in normal times and when
diseased.

1.
Date 

September 13, 2017 (Wednesday)

2.
Location/Class 

University of Tokyo Hongo Campus –
Electrocardiogram lecture (by Associate Professor Toshiaki Nakajima)

3.
Attending
students 

About 110 Faculty of Medical third-year students

4.
Summary 

Wearing 3D glasses, students will be able to see
a stereoscopic view of the heart simulation models displayed by a projector.
The lecturer will manipulate the models for both normal and abnormal states of
electrical propagation while giving an explanation with some simple operations,
including rotating the models 360-degrees or showing cutaways.

1.
Precise
3D Models Generated with the K computer 

The heart simulator, developed by Fujitsu and
Tokyo University, was generated using the K computer or a PC cluster, based on
actual images of hearts taken with MRI and CT scans, accurately simulating the
activity of the heart from the muscle cell level. Using the dedicated viewer,
which was made as a teaching material, allows one to see the heart simulator’s
data stereoscopically. As a result, it is now possible to use these 3D models
to see not only the internal and external structure of the heart, but also such
things as true-to-life heart muscle activity, detailed networks of blood
vessels and the flow of blood, as well as the spread of electrical propagation.

2.
Capable
of Observation from Numerous Perspectives and a Variety of Simulations 

Users can observe the 3D models, which
realistically reproduce even the interiors of hearts, from a variety of
perspectives, including rotating, expanding, and cutting away parts of the
model. In addition, Fujitsu has not only prepared models of healthy hearts, but
also simulated data of various heart diseases, including myocardial infarction,
fatal arrhythmias, and left bundle branch blocks, enabling students to learn by
comparing them with the activity of a normal heart.

Fujitsu will continue development of a greater
variety of heart simulation models in light of the experience gained from this
lecture, with the goal of offering this heart simulator viewer as educational
software for sale to educational and medical institutions during fiscal 2017.

Technology that
stimulates the user’s senses to create a life-like environment whose functions
are essentially the same as the real thing, even though it may have no form or
its form may be different.

A supercomputer and the
core system of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology’s High Performance Computing Initiative (HPCI), developed jointly by
Fujitsu and RIKEN. When it went into general service in 2012, it had an estimated
performance in the 10-petaflops range.

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and
communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology
products, solutions and services. Approximately 155,000 Fujitsu people support
customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of
ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:
6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US$40 billion) for
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.