About Vesalius
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Content on Vesalius is located in the Vesalius Clinical Folios and is available for viewing by subscribers and non-subscribers.
Subscribers can download any of the images, illustrations, photographs, animations, and multimedia resources in the Clinical Folios and use them for non-commercial, short-term educational applications, subject to the terms of use that govern this site.
Subscribers can also customize Vesalius for their own use, by creating Notes, Personal Thumbnails, Presentations, Quizzes, and Mark-Ups, and accessing them through their Personal Pages.
If you're already a subscriber, click the Login button (top left), and then login to be able to download content from the Clinical Folios or access your Personal Pages. For information about subscribing, click the Subscribe button in the top left corner of this page.
A list of the Most Recent Additions to the Clinical Folios is published as an RSS news feed, which means you can view this list as a news headline on RSS reader pages like My Yahoo!, My MSN, or Google Homepage. To add this RSS feed to one of these pages, click the appropriate button on the Vesalius home page. If you use another RSS reader, find and select your reader's "Add by URL" link, and then enter the appropriate Vesalius URL in the text-entry box. For Most Recent Additions, enter http://vesalius.com/rss_cf.xml .
Vesalius looks best and works best when viewed with Internet Explorer, version 5 or later, running on a Windows platform. Most Vesalius features also work as intended under Internet Explorer 5 for the Macintosh. With recent versions of Netscape Navigator, Vesalius features like Mark-Ups, drag-and-drop Quizzes, and the roll-over answers in the Radiology quizzes either work erratically or don't work at all. Critiques are not yet functioning correctly with Navigator. We highly recommend the use of Internet Explorer to potential Vesalius viewers.
Certain portions of the Clinical Folios (i.e. Transparencies and short videos in some of the Narratives) rely on QuickTime from Apple or Shockwave from Macromedia – so for full access to all folios, you need to make sure that the QuickTime and Shockwave players have been installed in your browser. Both players are free, and can be downloaded and installed on either Windows or Macintosh platforms. To download the QuickTime or Shockwave player plug-in now, click the appropriate icon below:
The Clinical Folios are a collection of graphical educational narratives on surgical anatomy and procedures designed for online reference and study. Unless otherwise noted, all Vesalius narratives and discussions are written by medical professionals. Content in the Vesalius Clinical Folios is arranged by topic and presented under five headings: Narratives, Discussions, Thumbnails, Transparencies, and Exercises.
Each folio in the Clinical Folios has its own unique VID number. The VID (e.g. 1056) is listed under the link to each folio on the topic index pages. If you already know the VID of the folio you want to view, you can save time by entering it in the "Retrieve Folio by VID" form on the Clinical Folios page, then clicking the adjacent button.
Narratives are an ordered series of related images, animations, or short videos linked by descriptive text that together explain the key steps in a surgical procedure or the anatomy relevant to one or more surgical procedures.
Thumbnails are pages that provide an index of the principal images and text paragraphs in a Narrative. The captions associated with each thumbnail image are cross-linked to the corresponding narrative content.
Transparencies are short interactive programs or movies (based on Macromedia's ShockWave or Apple's QuickTime technology) that present a layered or rotational view of surgical anatomy. Short QuickTime videos are also incorporated directly into the most recent narratives.
Discussions are text-based summaries of the epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment associated with an underlying condition.
Exercises allow viewers to assess their understanding of anatomy and radiology, by identifying anatomical structures in illustrations or interpreting radiological images.
Personal Pages – Notes, Thumbnails, Presentations, Mark-Ups, and Quizzes:
After you login, clicking a thumbnail image (or the image's name) will take you to a 320 x 240-pixel version of the image that can be annotated with drag-and-drop icons and text comments. These "Mark-Ups" can then be saved and retrieved for later reference or modification. To access your Mark-Ups, click the link to your Personal Mark-Ups page at the bottom of any Vesalius page. By passing along the unique Title and numerical Access Code of any Mark-Up, you can share an uneditable version of this Mark-Up with another viewer (subscriber or non-subscriber).As a subscriber, you can type up to 250 characters of your own Notes into a text window at the bottom of each "frame" in a narrative, then save them for your personal reference by clicking the "Update" button at the bottom of each narrative page. Any text you enter this way will appear in the Notes window for the appropriate frame the next time you visit this page. Notes can be erased by deleting them in the text window, and then clicking the "Update" button. Other Vesalius users will not see your Notes.
Beneath the Notes window of each frame you will see the question, "Include a link to this frame on your Personal Thumbnails page?", followed by two radio buttons labeled "Yes" and "No". By clicking the "Yes" radio button underneath a frame, and then clicking the "Update" button at the bottom of the narrative page, you can add a link to this frame to your Personal Thumbnails page, making it easy for you to return to this frame at some future time. To do so, just click the link at the bottom of any Vesalius page to reach your Personal Thumbnails page, then find and click the link to the frame you want.
After you have added thumbnail images and links to your Personal Thumbnails page, you can use them to create Presentations. Vesalius Presentations consist of an ordered series of the full-size Vesalius images, animations, or videos that correspond to the links on your Personal Thumbnails page, all placed on a single page in the sequence you specify. Your own Notes are presented below each image, in place of the Vesalius text that normally accompanies the image in its narrative. Your Presentations can hold as many frames as you like, allowing you to click down the page from frame to frame as you give your presentation. The frame headings above each frame are numbered sequentially, with titles that you provide. To create a Presentation, add at least one link to your Personal Thumbnails page, then follow the instructions provided on that page.
You can also use the thumbnail images on your Personal Thumbnails page to build Quizzes. A Quiz is an ordered set of Vesalius images, animations, or movies, presented on a single page as a series of thumbnails. Clicking any thumbnail pops open a full-size version of the image in a separate smaller window, along with icons that you can drag and drop to point out structures or techniques. Each thumbnail is accompanied by a question or statement that you provide. Your Quiz can be viewed by any Vesalius subscriber that you provide with the Quiz's title and numerical access code.
For each "frame" in your Quiz (i.e. each combination of one thumbnail image and your accompanying question or statement), you can provide up to five multiple-choice responses for the viewers of your Quiz to select from. At any point in time, you can review the cumulative responses provided by the viewers of your Quiz. Since you are free to use statements instead of questions when building your Quiz, and since you don't need to use the question/answer capability, you can also use the Quiz feature to build your own educational narrative from a series of Vesalius images or movies.
You build a Quiz from your Quiz-Builder page. To add a frame from your Personal Thumbnails page to your Quiz-Builder page, click the "Include?" checkbox at the far right side of the row containing its thumbnail image. After you have selected the frames you want, click the "Update Thumbnails, Presentation, and Quiz-Builder Pages" button beneath the last thumbnail row. The following page will ask you to provide a title for this new Quiz, and then forward you to your Quiz-Builder page.
Many of the images used in the Vesalius Clinical Folios are original illustrations created by Dr. Gary Wind. Others are photographs, videos and medical images developed by the Vesalius team, or submitted by contributors. (To find out how you can submit images and narratives to the Vesalius Clinical Folios, Contact Vesalius.)
The primary audience for the Vesalius website is the emerging generation of physicians, or more specifically, the medical students, resident physicians, and practicing MDs who are currently engaged in the somewhat overwhelming process of medical education. Within this community of physicians-in-training, Vesalius focuses primarily on those interested in surgery and surgical anatomy.
In a sense, today's medical students and residents represent the first of the "Internet generation" of physicians, since most of them (and essentially all of their successors) will have undertaken their medical education during a period when the Internet has emerged as a ubiquitous and comprehensive information resource.
By providing detailed narratives on surgical procedures and anatomy, as well as access to over 13,000 medical images and videos, Vesalius attracts the generation of students and young physicians that turns to the Internet first for practically any information – whether it's the review of a new movie, the latest weather forecast, or an explanation of an emerging surgical technique.
Accordingly, slightly over half of the traffic on the Vesalius site is generated by universities and medical schools, with the remainder divided primarily among hospitals/medical centers, corporations, and online service providers. Well over 1,000 medical institutions and universities in over 200 countries have made extensive use of the Vesalius site since its launch in early 1998. Both the number of site visitors per day and the activity per visitor continue to rise steadily.
Click here for a demographic summary of Vesalius Subscribers.
Advertising and Sponsorship
The Vesalius site supports the placement of advertising and sponsorship banners on a number of general-interest and topic-specific pages within the site. The hierarchical structure of the Vesalius website allows advertisers and sponsors to target their messages at viewers interested in specific procedures or anatomical topics.
Vesalius' advertising policy adheres to the guidelines developed by the Health on the Net initiative and outlined in the HON Code of Conduct. All advertising and sponsorship messages on Vesalius are confined to the 468 x 60 pixel banner format or to clearly designated advertising boxes and are segregated from the Vesalius editorial content. No links or references to advertisers or sponsors are integrated into any text narrative, image, illustration, or animation on the Vesalius site. As specified in the Vesalius terms of use, the acceptance of advertising messages on Vesalius does not imply any endorsement by Vesalius of the products or services advertised.
Prospective advertisers or sponsors should click here for more information about Vesalius advertising and sponsorship.
"Dispel from your mind the thought that an understanding of the human body in every aspect of its structure can be given in words; the more thoroughly you describe the more you will confuse... I advise you not to trouble with words unless you are speaking to blind men."
–Leonardo da VinciAs a pioneering student of human anatomy, a world-class scientist, and one of history's greatest artists, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) understood in a fundamental way that the sophistication and beauty of human anatomy can be communicated far more effectively with images than with words.
What Leonardo approached from the surface, Flemish anatomist and artist Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) studied from a deeper and more rigorous perspective. As the father of modern gross anatomy, Vesalius was the first to use dissection and direct observation as the foundation for his scientific analysis.
An excellent artist in his own right, Vesalius illustrated his early work himself. In producing his major work, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Vesalius was eager to disseminate his knowledge of anatomy as widely as possible. Toward this end, he sought artistic talent comparable in quality to the information he had developed, and employed the talents of Jan van Kalkar (a student of Titian) to create his illustrations. Four hundred years after its publication, De Humani Corporis Fabrica stands as an instantly recognizable landmark of the collaboration between art and science.
Our mission at Vesalius is to carry the pioneering tradition established by Vesalius and Leonardo into the 21st century, by creating a state-of-the-art, Internet-based resource for surgical education.
In accordance with Leonardo's insight, Vesalius relies primarily on graphical communications to explore and explain concepts in surgical anatomy, pathology and intervention.
By providing a continuously updated resource that utilizes a full range of graphical and interactive formats, we hope to make Vesalius a focal point on the Internet for the dissemination of surgical information and understanding.
Vesalius is produced by Lion Reef Software, Inc., a privately-held company specializing in the development of graphical communications for organizations in the medical and surgical commmunities.
President
Ted Stabler has served as the President of Vesalius' parent company Lion Reef Software since he founded Lion Reef in October, 1993. Ted previously co-founded Cayman Systems, where he was President and CEO from 1987 until 1993. Under Ted's direction, Cayman grew into a profitable, $15 million developer of hardware and software internetworking products for the Apple Macintosh market.
Ted graduated from Harvard College with an AB in Economics, cum laude, in 1981, and received an SM in Management from the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986.
Gary Wind, MD, FACS is Vesalius' Director of Art and Education, and is responsible for developing original digital illustrations, animations, 3-D anatomical models, and narratives for the Vesalius Clinical Folios.
Dr. Wind is a staff surgeon at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he has practiced general and laparoscopic surgery since 1980 and has been awarded the Golden Apple teaching award. He is Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), where he holds a joint appointment in the Department of Anatomy and serves as Director of the Microsurgery Course. Dr. Wind has authored and illustrated five surgical texts, the most recent of which is Laparoscopic Anatomy: Abdomen and Pelvis, available now from Williams and Wilkins. He was selected as Honored Member by the American Association of Clinical Anatomists in 2007.
Prior to joining USUHS, Dr. Wind served as staff surgeon with the US Air Force at Malcom Grow Medical Center from 1976-1980. During 1970-1976, Dr. Wind performed his residency in surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. Dr. Wind received a BA degree from Rutgers University in 1966, and an MD degree from Temple University in 1970.
5630 8th Road North
Arlington, VA 22205703-795-2740 phone
Clinical Folios:
Abdomen,
Biliary/Pancreatic,
Breast,
Cardiothoracic,
Colorectal,
Embryology,
Genitourinary,
Gynecology,
Head and Neck,
Hernia,
Musculoskeletal,
Neurosurgery,
Ophthalmology,
Pediatric Surgery,
Plastic Surgery,
Radiology,
Soft Tissue/Sarcoma,
Surgical Anatomy,
Technique,
Trauma,
Vascular
Personal Pages:
Thumbnails,
Presentations,
Mark-Ups,
Quizzes
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