VOXEL-MAN is the name of a set of computer programs for creation and visualization of three-dimensional digital models of the human body derived from cross-sectional images of computer tomography, magnetic resonance tomography or photography (e. g. the Visible Human Project). [1] It was developed at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Applications include diagnostic imaging, digital anatomical atlases [2] [3] [4] and surgery simulators. [5] The 3D interactive atlases of anatomy and radiology for brain/skull (published 1998), inner organs (published 2000) and upper limb (published 2008) are available for free download. The name Voxel-Man is derived from the term voxel, the elementary cuboid component of a digital representation of a three-dimensional object ( a "three dimensional pixel"). Occasionally the name Voxel-Man is also used as a general term for a digital representation of the human body. [6]
The potential of the data set is enormous. If manipulated by a computer in an interactive way, it can represent an electronic cadaver that can be dissected infinite times in infinite ways. It can also make us go "inside" the human body and look at structures in ways that were never thought possible.