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Article: Out of Body Medicine: Doctors Turn to Computer Simulators to Enhance Their Skills
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 5, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Timothy Fike's face was a moving target. It urgently needed
rearranging -- but his 11-year-old bones were still growing.
From his cheeks to just above his chin, the bones of his skull
weren't developing properly. His eyes appeared to protrude from
their too-shallow sockets, and his throat and nasal cavity were
narrowing, forcing him to struggle for breath. Surgery couldn't be
postponed, but where should the surgeon cut to get the best result?
In an office at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a three-dimensional
image of Timothy's skull stared from Craig Vander Kolk's computer
screen. Vander Kolk stared back. Timothy had Crouzon's syndrome, a
rare inherited disorder of bone development. His ...