By Leif Johnson From Mac Life

Have an M.D. with surgical training and want to operate on someone’s liver? Don’t worry–there’s an app for that. (Forgive me, I couldn’t resist.) Reuters recently reported that a German doctor used an augmented reality app for Apple’s beloved tablet to complete a surgery, marking one of the first times that the iPad’s ever been used in such a manner.

According to Reuters’ brief release, “The tablet uses augmented reality, which allows the liver to be filmed with an iPad and overlaid during an operation with virtual 3D models reconstructed from the real organ.” In other words, they took a MRI scan of the liver prior to surgery and then took a photo of it with the iPad, and the app overlaid the images to help the surgeons identify what they were looking for, resulting in a much more efficient procedure.

Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen, Germany developed the app, which helps the surgeons locate tumors and vessels before performing surgery. In this case, the process was successful, and the developers hope that this and similar apps will ease the process of transitioning from pre-op to surgery. In time, they hope the procedure can be used to remove tumors from other organs.

Based on the description, the process sounds as though it could eventually be improved through the patent for 3D manipulation that Apple recently filed. As AppleInsider notes, iPads are already popular with medical professionals, and such procedures could point the way toward even better uses for Apple’s tablet.

Want to see photos of the actual procedure? Visit Reuters’ gallery at: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/first-liver-surgery-with-tablet-computer-in-germany-1377012814-slideshow/, although be warned, it’s not for the squeamish.

No word on what the augmented reality app’s actually called.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/german_doctors_complete_liver_surgery_help_ipad_app