Tech Biz  :  IT   RSS  Supercomputer for Dodgy Tickers  Mark
Baard Email 07.01.05  BOSTON -- Doctors here in Beantown may
soon turn to one of the world's fastest supercomputers as an aid
to fixing bum tickers and removing formerly inoperable tumors.
A new IBM BlueGene supercomputer, recently installed at Boston
University, could give surgeons real-time, 3-D visualizations of
patients' internal organs as they implant lifesaving devices or
direct robotic instruments through tricky procedures, scientists
said.  Rather than poking around in a patient while looking at a
two-dimensional fluoroscopic image, implant doctors could work
with a detailed, 3-D picture of organs and tissues produced by
the supercomputer.  Even the fastest desktops are not up to the
task. Only the latest generation of supercomputers is fast
enough to take the flood of data from a CT scan and turn it into
a live 3-D model of patients' insides.  "The value is the real-
time capability," said BU professor of biomedical engineering
Solomon Eise