Virtual reality and 3D visualizations in heart surgery education.

Background: Computer assisted teaching plays an increasing role in surgical education. The presented paper describes the development of virtual reality (VR) and 3D visualizations for educational purposes concerning aortocoronary bypass grafting and their prototypical implementation into a database-driven and internet-based educational system in heart surgery.

Materials And Methods: A multimedia storyboard has been written and digital video has been encoded.