Bracco Acquires Virtual Reality Technology

As the result of a recently announced agreement, Bracco Group (Milan, Italy) has acquired an 80% share in Volume Interactions (Singapore), which has developed a new visualization system based on virtual reality for use in diagnosis and surgery. The system enables doctors to create images of a patient, visualize them in three dimensions, and then preplan complicated and delicate operations beforehand.

According to the terms of the agreement, the remaining 20% of Volume Interactions will remain in the hands of its management. The company was founded in 2000 as a spinoff of Kent Ridge Digital Labs (also in Singapore), a research institute in the information technology sector.

The new system, called Dextroscope, employs software called VizDexter, which can integrate and manipulate two-dimensional images from ultrasound, tomography, and magnetic resonance exams. By using a special hand-held light pen, the surgeon can work with a 3-D model that reproduces a real operating theater down to the last detail and plan a complex procedure with razor-sharp precision. The system was used in the successful 97-hour procedure that separated Siamese twins last year.

"With the acquisition of Volume Interactions, the most avant-garde company in the world in its field, we are now entering the area of the utilization of the diagnostic image through its manipulation,” said Maurizio Denaro, vice president, group research & development, Bracco.




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