Details just released on the specs performance dates and costs of Red’s new video still camera device poised to blow away both still and film worlds.  Of course I have been waiting for this for the operating room to couple to my scopes….

Red is the company who I collaborated with for my recent ultra HD operating room visualization project.   They are the leaders in Hollywood in ultra HD “4k” digital cinemal cameras.  As a result of our collaboration and their support of my work in the operating room of the future I have been following their development schdule for the next generation of Hollywood camera innovation.

What’s so significant— it will be an ultraHD resolution motion camera ( more than just “video” more like digital cinema) at 5K (5X HD) with massive frame rates for super smooth slo-mo and a digital still camera all in one with a completely modular design at a fraction of the price of any video even close to its specs.

Official Specs:

RED DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera)- New MYSTERIUM-X 5K sensor
5K (2:1) at 1-100fps/4K (2:1) at 1-125fps/Quad HD at 1-120fps/3K (2:1) at 1-160fps/2K (2:1) at 1-250fps/ 1080P (scaled from full frame) at 1-60fps
Increased Dynamic Range, reduced noise
Time Lapse, Frame Ramping—ISO 200-8000

More specs

Completely Modular System, each Module individually upgradeable
Independent Stills and Motion Modes (both record full resolution REDCODE RAW)
5 Axis Adjustable Sensor Plate
Multiple Recording Media Options (Compact Flash, 1.8” SSD, RED Drives, RED RAM)
Wireless REDMOTE control
Touchscreen LCD control option
Bomb-EVF, RED-EVF and RED-LCD compatible
Multiple User Control Buttons
Interchangeable Lens mounts including focus and iris control of electronic RED, Canon and Nikon lenses (along with Zoom data)
“Touch Focus Tracking” with electronic lens mounts and RED Touchscreen LCDs
LDS and /i Data enabled PL Mount
Rollover Battery Power
Independent LUTs on Monitor Outputs
Independent Frame Guides and Menu overlays on Monitor Outputs
Monitor Ports support both LCD and EVF
True Shutter Sync In/Out and Strobe Sync Out
720P, 1080P and 2K monitoring support
Gigagbit Network interface and 802.11 Wireless interface
3 Axis internal motion sensor, built in GPS receiver
Enhanced Metadata
Full size connectors on Pro I/O Module. AES Digital Audio input, single and dual link HD-SDI
Support for RED, most Arri 19mm, Studio 15mm, 15mm Lite, Panavision and NATO accessories

Dimensions- Approx. 4”x4”x5.5”
Weight (Brain only)- Approx. 6 lbs (2.72kg)

Handheld Specs Increased to Compete With Nikon and Canon

Scarlet 2/3″ Program. Given the recent new VDSLR releases, we have decided to up the capability of the Scarlet 2/3″ Fixed 8x and interchangeable models. Several new features are being added that will NOT impact the release schedule (anymore than it would have been otherwise) but it will mildly impact the pricing. We should have all the details ready by the end of this month.

Some of the new Scarlet 2/3″ capabilities include:
1. Increased REDCODE data rates
2. New FLUT Color, Gamma and Sensitivity Science. Now same as EPIC.
3. More extensive modular system integration.
4. Interchangeable Lens mounts including focus and iris control of electronic RED, Canon and Nikon lenses, along with Zoom data (Scarlet 2/3″ Interchangeable)
5. “Touch Focus Tracking” with electronic lens mounts and RED touchscreen LCD’s (Scarlet 2/3″ Interchangeable and 8x Fixed)
5. Two independent microphone level channels, balanced input circuits, 48V Phantom Power, digitized at 24-bit 48KHz.
6. GigaBit Ethernet port
7. Scaled 1080P at 60fps

Sensors Going to 28X HD!  (28,000 X 9885 res in video!!!)

I just got back from the 65th annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) meeting in Atlanta.  After all the excitement of my plenary talkon the development of ultraHD surgery I had a chance to scour the exhibit hall and go to my choice of key breaking research presentations.  One that struck my immediate attention was a new chip technology that could allow the testing of all 24 pairs of chromosomes on an embryo fast enough to make it part of our fertility treatment in vitro fertilization. 

Here’s the abstract they presented (requires registration)-it was a finalist for a prize paper. 

Why Genetically Test an Embryo?  In IVF we join a sperm and eggs in the lab and let thee develop into embryos which are then transferred into the mother’s uterus.  We learned over the last decade that perhaps the number 1 reason treatments are unsuccessful is due to “aneuploidy” or genetic abnormalities of the embryo.  While these can come from the developing embryo itself or the sperm the vast majority come from the egg and are directly related to the age of the potential mother.  Fixing this would revolutionize fertility treatments.  We see in some women all of their eggs may be abnormal.  While rates increase in the mid-thirties they are astronomical in a woman’s 40s.

The Tests: The technique of PGDwas developed to test embryos for lethal single gene genetic diseases (like CF or tay sachs etc).  On the third day of development we open the developing embryo and take one its 6-8 developing cells out.  This precious cell is tested for the gene to see if it has it or not.  We have to get the results in 48 hours to catch the window where we need to replace the embryo into mom. Some interesting ethical questions about this test are here.

PGS – preimplantation genetic screening is different.    Here we do the same biopsy but test for 9 or 11 chromosomes to see if the age related abnormalities are present (not a familial single genetic disease).  The idea was that we could do the test and virtually guarantee choosing a normal embryo– guaranteeing pregnancy and eliminating miscarriage from these factors.  But there was a huge problem–in addition to simple testing inaccuracies, we learned that embryos have mosaicism-not all of the cells are identical!  In fact, we now know that embryos can have a few cells that are abnormal and “self correct” itself as it develops over the next few days.  So when we test just a single cell we could pick up an isolated abnormality that will self correct.  Or we could pick up one of the few normal cells in an embryo that is overwhelmingly abnormal and will never survive.  This technique once thought to be revolutionary was shown in many studies to actually decrease overall pregnancy results.  Most fertility centers have dramatically curtailed or eliminated its use for this simple screening idea.  The current thought is that we would need the ability to test for many more chromosomes and to test more than a single cell for the technique to really change overall pregnancy rates.

Both PGS and PGD are offered at my fertility practice Gold Coast IVF but I really try to use it in just those patients who have genetic riks factors clearly identified - as opposed to centers who try to push this limited technique on everybody.  We are intergrated the new chip technologies into practice now but again their use is not for everybody doing IVF!

The new research presented at ASRM–currently the testing of isolated chromosomes is via a technique called FISH.  A newer version of this called cGH was promising, but takes many days to get a result.  So for it to be used we have to biopsy embryo freeze it wait a week for the results (or more) and then put the embryos identified as normal back into the mother after thawing them a month down the road.  The new technique called array cGH (aCGH) allows the testing of all chromosomes and gives a result in less than 24 hours.  I had an opportunity to listen to the research presentation on its development and initial testing and spend some time with the head of the company who manufactures the chip answering my questions.

The company is called BlueGnome and they call the chip technology 24sure - more info here.  Here is a link to a powerpoint presentation from the European Fertility Meeting ESHRE that traces in techical complex details (not for the layman) the other options. 

Previous research on this method  full chromosome abnormalities were diagnosed with a 6% error rate, but not structural abnormalities. taken into account.   Thirty five embryos were tested -3 did not produced results (9%). Twenty one embryos were abnormal (65%) 10/11normal embryos were insered into the potential mothers.  95% of the abnormal embryos were confirmed by the old FISH technique which would have detected 70-80% Vof the abnormalities and missed the rest.

The new research presented:  6/55 tested embryos did not yield results (10.9%). 59% were abnormal  One embryo classified by the new methods as normal had a trisomy 22 by FISH ( 5% false negative rate). 2 teed abnortmal were normal by FISH ( 7% false positive rate). The total error rate for full chromosome abnormalities was  (6%).  Overall aCGH seems to detect about 20% more abnormal embryos than FISH with a 6% error for full chromosome abnormalities.

Conclusions:  this is a major technological step towards a more accurate and usable genetic method of testing embryos to improve pregnancy rates and reduce miscarriage rates.  While some still feel that the test is too early to be reliable it is being introduced clinically and centers are beginning to use it.  It is one of the only methods to test all chromosomes in an embryo and be able to put them back in the same cycle.  As the technology improves the 6% error rate will decrease.  More importantly the very wrapped up turnaround which is now less than 12 hours should allow the testing of multiple cells and allow a more accurate confirmation of the embryos true genetic nature.  Techniques like this, we hope will be able to begin to identify healthy embryos and transform the practice of fertility treatment through technology.

Groundbreaking egg research study using this technology announced:  recently the European fertility group announced a multicenter study using this genetic chip to test what are called “polar bodies” in eggs.  This test is being done on volunteer women who are donating their eggs.  The vintage here is that the egg can be tested before it is fertilized eliminating the whole problem of mosaicism and allowing testing of eggs before fertilization occurs-which for some is morally more acceptable.

Here is another prize paper from the meeting– on how obesity adveersely affects IVF success rates. 

 HD EXPO – Createasphere: The Event for Content Creators!   EXPOSITION: November 4-5, 2009 at the Burbank Marriott
 Cool Things at HD EXPO

I am so excited to report that I have performed the world’s first laparoscopy in 4K - using cameras with a resolution 4 times that of HD. I presented the details and shared the images with a crowd of 3500 at the 65th Annual Meeting of the ASRM this week in Atlanta in my invited plenary lecture.  We showed the audience how the digital technology being developed to transform movies could be directly applied to take surgical performance to tthe next level.

“Dr. Palter’s research and vision of surgery’s technological future opened the eyes and minds of the audience to fantastic treatments beyond what can be done today” said R. Dale McClure, MD President of ASRM.

Handheld and 4 foot Jib arm methods of 4K surgery test

What was New This Year:

Last year the same team worked togother (along with FotoKem) on our proofof concept project.  Then we took the camera into the OR and shot with the Hollywood version on a tripod looking around the OR– but it was not used for the surgery itself.  This year we directly attached the camera to an operating laparocope and used it for the surgery itself. 

What we Did: Laparoscopic, or keyhole, surgery is when telescopes are used to perform minimally invasive procedures with faster recovery and no major incisions.  The surgeon works by remote looking on a television monitor.  Usually this is in regular standard definition and lately high definition systems are being used.  As detail and resolution increases surgeons will see and perform better.  For this reason I set out to see if images 4 times the resolution ofHD could be obtained through our surgical scopes and if the next generation of Hollywood 4k cameras could be used for surgery.  In a pilot project we successfully connected the camera of the future to our surgical scope and obtained the highest resolution surgical images of body ever directly in the procedure.   The audience nicknamed me Dr. Steven Spielberg. 

Since these scopes had never been attached to such a digital creature as this camera we had to create a coupling system. We went back to models and systems used in the 1940′s when film was just invented to devise a system.  Thanks to brainstorming and testing by USC’s Richard Weinberg in the School of Cinematic Arts and Karl Storz Endoscopy we figured out and developed a system.

Why we did it- the Hollywood connection: New cinematic technologies are transforming the film business today.  The two major revolutionary developments are 1) beyond high def “4k” technology – which brings resolution to 4 times that of HD and 2) realistic immersive high definition 3D. I set out to introduce these technologies to the medical world and to see if we could for the first time directly perform surgery in 4k.  Setting the goal to once again use technological innovation to improve our patient outcomes.

The Equipment We Used

Our Partners From Hollywood:

Red Digital Cinema Camera Company makes the Red One 4K camera.

Sony Electronics, Inc. makes the incredible SRXR-220 projector– 4096×1920 resolution capable of 3D HD and 18,000 lumens.  Not to mention $200,000 and 700 pounds.

Here’s the control room including the 3D SRW deck.  With the technical guru’s from Sony Mark Woudsma and Vinh Vo doing their magic.  Evan Kratchman from the Medical Division helped brig all the diverse Sony divisions together and coordinate the event to make it happen.

The incredible Mark Woudsma of Sony – master of all future tech roadshows setting digital inputs on one of our 20 foot scaffolds (we had three of these folks!)

Offhollywood is the uber-cool NY Soho-based masters of the Red One camera and digital post production house.  The head of the facility in NY Mark Pederson immediately signed onto the project to try to figure out with me and Red how to do 4K through the scope.  He sent out the cameraman Eric Camp who ran the Red and the 4 foot jib arm we needed for stabilization.  We then spent a late night in post production color correcting and editing the footage in Assimilate’s Scratch.  Finally Pliny produced the DCP (4K digital file format) file that the digital theaters could play.  It only took 8 hours to render…  Not to mention the XML packaging that the players require and the Hard drive that had to be deliverd via courier.  BTW– the photo here is me with mark and Ted from Red with the full Hollywood camera and a prototype of the 3K handheld Scarlet version…

For 3D in HD we used the Sony SRW Deck and 3D circular polarized theater glasses matched to theatrical lenses from RealD.  Amazing collaborations from 3Ality allowed us to get Hollywood footage including U2 in 3D in concert!  Followed that with 4K Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and Ben Stiller among others in cameo blew the audience away.  We shifted for each technology from Hollywood to medical use showing the overlap in technical development…  Andrew Stucker from Sony Digital Cinemas helped make it all happen and secure rights…   We projected the largest high definition (HD) 3d surgical images ever.  We used the same system as the 3D Hollywood blockbuster Cloudy With a Chance of Meatball to allow the surgeons to feel as if they could “reach out and join the operation”. These images were enabled by converting Sony’s ultrahigh definition and 3d theatrical systems to show medical footage.  For medical footgae we use Intuitive Surgical’s DaVinci robot which images in resouding HD 3D.

Background

Virtually all of my surgery is endoscopic- performed through tiny telescopes and viewed on a TV monitor. In 2000 I performed the world’s firs HDTV surgery and demonstrated how increased resolution improved the surgeon’s visualization and performance of procedures.  For those interested in the history of HDTV surgery and the details of its development further details of my work are here from the New York Times and here from Science Daily and here from MIT Technology Review.   Over the past two years I refined this work with even better performing camera systems and this work was featured on 20/20 and on the National Geographic Channel’s first ever HD medical show – Inside the Living Body (as reported in Wired).

Hollywood is embracing its digital future by adopting (with $1 billion in financing and a follow-up deal by Sony) planned conversion of 20,000 theaters to ultrahigh definition 4k (4096x 2048) video.  The revolutionary Red One camera is one of the few that can natively record this type of file.   Having heard about it I went to vegas for NAB and saw with my own eyes the amazing realistic movies  being made with it.  While there I met with Ted Schilowitz, Red’s “Leader of the Rebellion” and we began our collaboration to take surgery into imaging’s future.

I also partnered with Sony’s Electronics Medical and Broadcast Divisions who make the best highest resolution 4k and 3D projectors in the world– usually used for next genertion digtal movie theaters.

By increasing resolution to this level we allow the surgeon to be actually immersed in images that surpass the live surgical experience. The resolution approaches that of the human eye but it is combined with 10 fold magnification through the telescopes which operate just inches away from the disease.  The progress from regular surgical film technology is like comparing sitting in an HD home theater to watching a video on a cell phone.

Ultra high resolution digital cameras are transforming the art of cinema. Leading Hollywood directors such as Peter Jackson and Stephen Soderbergh today have just started filming the next generation of cinema blockbusters using cameras with “4K” resolution, four times the resolution of High Definition (HD) with 4096 lines of resolution to give audiences unprecedented realism. The Red One digital cinema camera is the at the forefront of the revolution.  Director Soderberg previously described this technology as “This is the camera I’ve been waiting for my whole career: Red is going to change everything….Shooting with Red is like hearing The Beatles for the first time. Red sees the way I see.”

Amazingly, the surgeons in the conference were able to visualize the surgery they were watching better than if they had been in the operating room live. If it can transform the immersive experience of the movies with unprecedented realism wouldn’t you want that degree of vision in your surgeon’s hands? By combining unprecedented resolution and magnification the surgical images were beyond what a surgeon would have standing live in the operating room. Those in the audience predicted this technology would further revolutionize minimally invasive surgery as it becomes incorporated into the OR of the future.

The 4K system, manufactured by RED Digital Cinema Camera Company, was used to film Jumper, Crossing the Line, and The Argentine. This recording represents its first direct use for a surgical procedure in the world.

I’ll post more details soon….

Amazing video shown at ASRM annual meeting.  Drs. Sun and Casper out of Toronto have developed a prototype of a robotic system that can perform ICSI– or intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  This is frequently used in IVF where the sperm as so few or weak that they cannot fertilize eggs.  Usually a skilled technician injects a single sperm with a microscopic glass needle into an egg. 

The new group just showed a robotic method.  Besides The fact that this could greatly expand access to complex reproductive technologies it is amazing because its another example of my theory of the “technological transformation of medicine.”  For some time I have posted that I predict medical robots will really take off when they re no longer designed to mimic the human hand but to be like industrial function driven task solvers.  its just a matter of time until these complex surgical tasks can be automated. 

I’ll start woking on geting a link to show it to you…

iRobot make the cutecuddly roomba vacuum-bots— but you may not realize the real business of this company is battle ready military battle bots on the front line in Iraq.  Just released is video of Jambots”.  jamming is the use of a rubber structure filled with particles were fluid or air is shifted to make the whole thing rigid or fluid like.

iRobot’s soft, shape-shifting robot blob can roll around and change shape, and it will be able to squeeze through tiny cracks in a wall when the project is finished. Video presented at IEEE IROS 2009. Read more robot news at http://spectrum.ieee.org

Well today I heard a really bizarre lecture at the ASRM annual meeting in Atlanta.  Robin Lovell-Badge from the stem cell bio branch of UK National Institute for medical Research reported new genetic finds that gonadal sex in mammals is potentially reversible after birth!

It has been known that to make a testicle the male genes SRY and SF1 are required.  He has now discovered that there are similar genes that regulate female ovary development — namely FOXL2 and beta-catenin.

Just reported is that in the MOUSE–genetic manipulation can turn these genes on and off even after birth.  The results?  An ovary became a testicle!!  Once again genetics is blowing away notions of biology and gender that were never questioned before.

I am at the ASRM annual international fertility conference in Atlanta.  Tonight the responsibility we have to our patients was discussed in bold statements at the president’s opening address. The octomom controversy regarding the number of embryos transferred was discussed as well as our organization’s commitment to our guideline policies (which were violated in extreme in this case).

Simultaneously USAToday reported that the group have expelled the octomom doctor for violation s of our guidelines as reported here. 

There is considerable discussion and debate here on how to move towards single embryo transfers and eliminate multiple gestations (with their added risks to baby and mother) without sacrificing success.  Unfortunately too many patients with limited insurance coverage for procedures feel forced to push the odds and risk multiples.

Well friends and readers– recent times became busier than every before and I had to take posting hiatus.  I am delighted to be back and hopefully better than ever!

I’ll be covering all the best medical technology and innovation as before but will expand my posts to infertility evaluation and treatments as well. 

Stay tuned for another docinthemachine research first announcement coming Tuesday October 20th live from the ASRM annual meeting in Atlanta!