A new radiology learning tool was just released in the App Store, the iRadiology App.  This app has a catalog of over 500 radiology cases designed to help medical students and residents improve their plain film,CT, and MRI reading skills.  The cases are derived from Dr. Gillian Lieberman, who is the currently Director of Harvard Medical Student training and Associate Director of the Residency Program at Beth Israel Medical Center.  This legitimizes the content of the application.  In this review we’ll discuss the application further and also show you how to turn on the “Zoom” feature built into the iPhone that will enable you to improve the utility of this medical app.

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The term “Gray’s Anatomy” has become synonymous with the popular ABC show featuring surgeons who have ridiculous amounts of drama while somehow still finding time for the OR.  I’ve only seen one episode of the show, and would describe the main character as a black hole for drama, but anyways, before the show, “Gray’s Anatomy” was synonymous with gross anatomy, a very familiar text with medical students.  The full version of the Gray’s Anatomy text has now gone mobile and is ready to use on your iPhone.  There are a few versions of this app out, but I’ll be reviewing the Deluxe version.  In this review I’ll focus on how useful it might be for gross anatomy during the first year of medical school.

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The App, 3D Brain, has been out since October, but it’s location under the “education” category of the App Store allowed it to slip under our radar.  The 3D app is derived from the Genes to Cognition Online website, funded by the Dana Foundation and Hewlett Foundation.  Using the native iPhone gestures, the app allows you to zoom and rotate images of the brain in a three dimensional fashion.  In this post I’ll cover how this app can be used with your patients.

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Get yourself a copy of Pocket Heart (iTunes price is $5.99) and you’ll immediately be impressed by this app. Yes, the graphics and animations will be what first grabs your attention, but you’ll soon find out in this review that Pocket Heart is truly a good learning tool for cardiac anatomy and physiology.

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While on the wards, everyone tells me reading CT images takes practice, practice, and more practice. Reading CT images is becoming crucial for gross anatomy as well, when I was a first year we definitely had to read cross sectional CT images for gross anatomy tests. This ability is put to practice on the wards early on. The look on med students faces when residents try to take them through an abnormal CT image can be absolutely comical.

When I’m being taught by residents and attendings, they always tell me in order to recognize underlying pathology, you need to first know what normal looks like. What structures should you be looking for at a particular vertebral level? What bones are surrounding certain vasculature in key areas? These are just a few of the questions I was hoping the iAnatomy app, developed by Dr. Anouk Stein, would help teach.

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