Virtual
Soldier
Or
Combat Medical Support
Enters the Information Age
DIRO – 12/03/03
Problem
Medical Support is the only
component that does not have
a computer (information)
representation of its product
DIRO – 12/03/03
Result
•Billions of dollars of software in
prototyping, simulation, virtual testing &
evaluation is not available to improve the
health, performance, sustainability, training
and equipage of the soldier
•Without an information representation,
medical support cannot integrate into FCS
DIRO – 12/03/03
What difference will it make?
The implementation is
instant battlefield diagnosis
A total body scan of every soldier . . .
• worn on their electronic dog tag
• distributable to multiple of echelons of care
. . . converted to the individual virtual soldier . . .
• from the generic model architecture
• to soldier specific data as baseline
. . . which upon wounding
. . . is compared to the wounded status . . .
• updated real-time data
• and trajectory of missile/wavefront
. . . automatically predicts injury and mortality . . .
• based upon model of empiric biologic properties
• taking the individual soldier baseline
• compared to post-injury data (entrance-exit, vital signs, etc)
DIRO – 12/03/03
The Virtual Soldier is . . .
•
A computer representation in silico of a generic human
•
Based upon computational models - molecular to body
•
Derived from empirically measured biological properties
•
Personalized to represent a specific solider
•
Ubiquitously available
•
Updatable in real time
Holographic Medical Electronic Representation
(Holomer)
DIRO – 12/03/03
How is medical care done TODAY and what are the limitations?
Now
Future
The Medic & MASH:
no baseline information, injury written on a paper “toe-tag”
‘best guess’ as to category of injury (immediate, delayed,etc)
Not integrated into other medical systems
no vital signs during transport
generates a new handwritten record in the ER, lab, etc
Complete information (allegies, meds,etc)
Decision support to automate diagnosis and triage
Incorporate into FCS (Scorpion)
Continuously updated, especially change
Cornerstone of a dynamically changing medical record
Limitations:
No baseline information
No way to update information – echelons, within hospital, over time
No method of autonomously assisting medic in the far forward area
Complete and personalized information to that specific soldier
Continuously updating information
Aid and automate diagnosis
DIRO – 12/03/03
What is the project trying to do?
Build a Virtual Soldier on an Electronic “dog tag”
From Which to Diagnose and Predict Combat Injury
Why?
Instantly & Accurately diagnose
internal combat injury (heart)
Holographic Medical
Electronic Representation
Holomer
How?
3-D model from total body scan
on “dog tag”
(anatomy & physiology)
Compare to data acquired on
the battlefield after wounding
(Ultrasound)
Predict likelihood of
battlefield mortality
Accurate Diagnosis &
Treatment Saves Lives
FOR THE INDIVIDUAL SOLDIER THIS MEANS:
Empowering the individual medic
at the point of wounding
to make a diagnosis of an injury
with the same expertise as having
an expert surgeon on site
DIRO – 12/03/03
What is truly novel?
Computational model that
truly substitutes for the soldier . . .
Virtual Soldier
Holomer on dog tag
Decision
Support
Real-time data
BMIS
ultrasound, vital signs, etc
Organs
Injured
?Shock
Quicker
Automatic
Diagnosis
Calculate & Display
Outcomes
. . . to accurately diagnose wounding
Free spin-offs: Current status, ergonomic studies, etc
An entirely new magnitude
and type of modeling . . .
Scale:
gene, molecule, cell, organ . … total body . . .
of the
Integrate: structure, biochemistry, physiology, mechanics . . .
for the
Systems:
heart, lung, liver, kidney, brain, muscle, bone . . .
. . . The Human Genome contains less than 10% of the data of a “virtual soldier”
Medical Moon Shot
DIRO – 12/03/03
How to overcome limitations
“Living” representation
Develop a dynamic, generalizable, scalable ontology from real data
Holomer
Interact in multiple dimensions on a physiologic-based computational representation
Display the results in an intuitive fashion for automatic diagnosis
Phase I (go/no-go milestone)
Increase accurate diagnosis
of heart wounds to > 80%
System
Brain
Methodology
Heart
Lung
Kidney
Liver
System
Organ
Level
Demonstrate one level integration
Organ level
Demonstrate one system integration
Cardiac
Integrate automatic diagnosis
Segmentation
Decision support
Display results
Muscle
Tissue
Physiology
Cellular
BioChem
Gene
DIRO – 12/03/03