When Tom Lobe MD, went on a tour with his daughter to Iowa State University (Iowa City) to find an engineering program suitable for her, the last thing he expected to do was come upon a novel imaging program that would redefine the way physicians and surgeons look at an MRI.
Lobe went to the school's Virtual Reality Applications Center, which had a 3-D visualization of the universe. The visuals were so intense and so engrossing, that Lobe put on his thinking hat and asked if this could be done with the human body.
"We were at Iowa State University and she was interested in Engineering, so I asked if we could see their state of the art Virtual Reality Applications Center," Lobe said. I was amazed how advanced 3-D visualization had become and immediately thought a view of the human body like this could open up a whole new world for surgeons."
And from there, Lobe, along with Iowa State University academicians, formed an alliance that led to the creation of BodyViz (Ames, Iowa) and its product of the same name.
"BodyViz runs on laptops and work stations," Curt Carlson, BodyViz CEO told Medical Device Daily. "The cost combined with how simple it is to use, download and install will ultimately change the way surgeons prep for surgery, educate patients and help oncologists treat tumors with greater accuracy."
Once the physician gets the MRI, he or she then runs it through the BodyViz program, which can give a 3-D model of the scan.
Doctors can shift, adjust, turn, zoom and replay a three dimensional rendering of an MRI of a patient. The company uses an X-Box controller to move to different parts of the scan. Physicians can then use the information to plan a surgery or a round of radiation therapy.
BodyViz said its imaging application cuts pre-surgery planning time from an hour to about four minutes.
Lobe, a surgeon at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines and BodyViz creator, said he knows how critical it is to save time in the operating room.
Lobe says, "In the past, I had to plan, draw pictures, imagine and finally guess at the best approach before I could begin surgery. This takes time while the patient is under anesthesia and lying on the operating table. BodyViz allows a surgeon to take CT or MRI images and do all these tasks himself, simply and quickly, so no time is lost and there are no surprises on the day of surgery."
Two-dimensional imaging technologies have been the norm in medicine for a long time, but those flat images leave much to be desired and are only understood by specialists.
"What our surgeons are doing now is working in 2-D," Carlson told MDD. He summed up the change saying that the device goes from "2-D in guessing, to 3-D in knowing."
The slogan is catching on and the response for the imaging application has spurred a great deal of interest from surgeons, academic institutions and even high schools.
"There are a lot of different uses for BodyViz, Carlson said. "It's great for patient education. With this, they get the chance to take part in preoperative planning. In addition we're finding higher education facilities and high schools purchasing the BodyViz as a teaching tool."
Such great response has led to the company being primarily funded through revenue generated from its core product, which received FDA approval in March.
There are plans, however, for the company to seek a round of financing within the next few months.
"We're probably going to go out for a round financing in the next six months," Carlson said.
The company was launched with a grant of $109,533 from the Grow Iowa Values Fund, a state economic development program back in 2007.
In addition, the company won the $25,000 top prize in the 4th annual John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition.
And earlier this year, BodyViz was named Outstanding Startup Company of the Year as part of the Technology Association of Iowa's Prometheus Awards.
Omar Ford, 404-262-5546;