[Scientific significance and prospective application of digitized virtual human]

As a cutting-edge research project, digitization of human anatomical information combines conventional medicine with information technology, computer technology, and virtual reality technology. Recent years have seen the establishment of, or the ongoing effort to establish various virtual human models in many countries, on the basis of continuous sections of human body that are digitized by means of computational medicine incorporating information technology to quantitatively simulate human physiological and pathological conditions, and to provide wide prospective applications in the fields of medicine and other disciplines. This article addresses 4 issues concerning the progress in virtual human model researches as the following: (1) Worldwide survey of sectioning and modeling of visible human. American visible human database was completed in 1994, which contains both a male and a female datasets, and has found wide application internationally. South Korea also finished the data collection for a male visible Korean human dataset in 2000. (2) Application of the dataset of Visible Human Project (VHP). This dataset has yielded plentiful fruits in medical education and clinical research, and further plans are proposed and practiced to construct a Physical Human and Physiological Human . (3) Scientific significance and prospect of virtual human studies. Digitized human dataset may eventually contribute to the development of many new high-tech industries. (4) Progress of virtual Chinese human project. The 174th session of Xiangshang Science Conferences held in 2001 marked the initiation of digitized virtual human project in China, and some key techniques have been explored. By now the data-collection process for 4 Chinese virtual human datasets have been successfully completed.