Supercomputer for Dodgy Tickers

BOSTON -- Doctors here in Beantown may soon turn to one of the world's fastest supercomputers as an aid to fixing bum tickers and removing formerly inoperable tumors. A new IBM BlueGene supercomputer, recently installed at Boston University, could give surgeons real-time, 3-D visualizations of patients' internal organs as they implant lifesaving devices or direct robotic instruments through tricky procedures, scientists said. "The value is the real-time capability," said BU professor of biomedical engineering Solomon Eisenberg, who is working with doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital on the 3-D visualization of patients' internal anatomies and implant devices. Two miles of gigabit ethernet cable beneath a raised floor connect BU's supercomputer to the outside world and two Linux servers, which manage the computational tasks submitted by researchers. Real-time 3-D visualizations running on the BU supercomputer could simulate the electrical fields inside a patient, which are created by the defibrillator's electrodes, Eisenberg believes.