Python based simulation and treatment planning in Craniofacial Surgery: Advances and Challenges.
drakileshr |
Description:
Python is like the legendary "James Bond". Not just because it is versatile but also because it can easily make "bonds" with other programming languages using wrappers. From a computer hobbyist to a hardcore enthusiastic user with interest in anything technology can offer for healthcare and research, I have come a long way. I am a learner still and am proud of it.
I have been a soldier of fortune in healthcare information technology with no specific loyalty to anything in the field of healthcare information technology except to the healthcare part. So for all of my professional life, I aspire to be just this enthusiast and a critical analyst of anything technical as applied to healthcare.
In this talk, I wish to share my journey with Python and R in my primary field of work, healthcare. This will include mostly research work/exploratory work in the fields of Image analysis, 3D modelling & Data analytics as applicable to healthcare, especially evidence synthesis using python/R. And then I wish to ponder on how and if python can be of everyday use to a healthcare professional and end-user.
Outline
In addition to highlighting the 3D treatment planning and opportunities for integrating python for modules for virtual surgery, I was hoping to delve into simulation which may be used for training, research and performing/testing new procedures in a virtual environment.
While this may not translate into actual experience in-toto, with the clinicians and developers understanding the limitations and benefits of this approach, a lot of surgical skill sets can be improved using these virtual simulations. My core concentration will be for implementation of these ideas in Craniofacial surgery.
Can Python live upto this challenge of simulating surgeries ? Can it be a reliable for a clinician ? My objective is to present a framework and concept where these ideas will not just remain as thesis on the bookshelves of universities but they will remain as friends for doctors and researchers in their practice and perhaps in Operation Theater in real time!
In Conclusion, I will list some of the exciting possibilities in other fields of surgery as well and I will also highlight the barriers in the process. There is a need for integrated collaborative co-design in these such projects.
Prerequisites:
An Open mind and just a little bit of interest into healthcare technology.
Content URLs:
My previous academic interactions in ResearchGate platform: ResearchGate Profile
Speaker Info:
I am an oral and maxillofacial surgeon (a specialised field of dentistry), with an ardent interest into the good, bad and ugly aspects of technology as applied to healthcare field. Clinical, research, practice, publication writing, digitisation, patient safety, health informatics.... you name it and I would have either dabbled in it or would be willing to jump in and explore, if I haven't heard of it yet.
My exploration of python started out as simple interest into data-analytics and using Text-as-data for data extraction and topic modelling largely for my own learning purposes. From there, I got drawn back into the 3D modelling using python based tools available as open source (having given up on them years ago, never knowing they were python based, due to the resource intensiveness and steep learning curve which I regret!!). Now I am exploring into usage of technology for medical image analysis, 3-D modelling for clinical/research and data-analytics as applicable to healthcare with a touch of automation, especially in areas of head and neck surgery.
I miss Chennai a little, but a ships are meant to be anchored in the harbour. Right? I am out again, exploring in the far north, working in the Department of Dentistry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Gorakhpur. Through this conference, I wish to gain new insights that I can share with medical community when I go back. And I wish to share with the IT community in general and with Pythonistas in particular about some of the practical aspects of python as applicable to medical field (beyond research) in this conference.