The SonoCard

Entec in Partnerships with German Medical Universities of Essen, Aachen, Munster and Freiburg

Founded in 1996 as a spin-off of the German National Research Center for Information Technology, Entec specializes in the field of medical technology and pharmacology and has grown to a full service media agency.

The Sonocard Project was initiated to provide better medical training and education in cardiac sonography through a complete case-based learning course covering most adult cardiac pathologies - even rare ones - and their corresponding ultrasound diagnostic procedure.

Challenge: Create a Realistic Interactive 3D Application for Medical Training

Medical learning applications such as the Sonocard require virtual reality tools and techniques more than ever. Visual and tactile feedback are critical to the success and realism of the application, particularly in delicate or dangerous procedures such as this when using live patients is unfeasible or impractical.

Even though certain cardiac pathologies are rarely encountered in a clinical setting (a real advantage of medical applications), virtual case studies must still be as effective educationally as studying live procedures. Each case study must illustrate complex ideas clearly. This implies the creation of a highly detailed 3D models, as well as an interactivity that mimics the analysis of a real patient. Its interface must be accessible to students and its information and 3D models must remain pertinent and efficient.

Solution: Virtools Virtual Reality Tools for Impressive Medical Applications

Thanks to Virtools Dev and the Virtools VR Pack, students learn to manipulate the sonography transducer with highly realistic sensory feedback. Virtools technology simplified the VR development process to just 50 days of production. The Virtools VR building blocks allowed Entec to create the entire project without any C++ code, providing the advanced interconnections to the VR equipment through Virtools user friendly graphic interface.

The Sonocard's high quality graphic interface shows how Virtools helps create useful, informative learning applications which can be of particular service to the medical community in the years to come.

Key Benefits

Virtools technology allowed Entec to create the SonoCard application in just 50 days. Not only can the Sonocard application now be used in a classroom environment, it can also be used for distance learning over the internet or an intranet. The high level Virtools building blocks allowed Entec's development team to become quickly proficient in creating highly informative user-friendly learning applications that in turn teach complex information in a way that is faster and more productive.


Find Out More