Unprecedented Journey Inside the Living Body

Sep. 3, 2007 — -- Recent technological advances have allowed for such dramatic and amazing views of the inside of our bodies that watching the footage can feel like you're in a science fiction film or on an imaginary expedition.

In such a science fiction journey, the 1966 film "Fantastic Voyage," a group of scientists and their submarine were miniaturized so they could be injected into a body in order to eliminate an otherwise unreachable brain clot.

"I use clips from that movie when I lecture about these new technologies," said Dr. Steven Palter, the medical and scientific director of Gold Coast IVF in Syosset, N.Y. "Now, physicians can actually see the workings of the body and understand it in a way that they never could before."

Palter, who has a medical technology blog called docinthemachine.com, is a pioneer of methods capable of producing spectacular high-definition surgical images.

He is one of more than 200 scientists and experts who were recruited to advise the makers of a documentary titled "Inside the Living Body," which premieres Sept. 16 on the National Geographic Channel.

Click here to visit the National Geographic Channel for more.

Among others who contributed to the unique, cradle-to-grave depiction of the inner workings of our bodies are the British scientific photographer and biologist David Barlow, known for his work producing extraordinary views from inside the womb, and Stephen Marsh, a cellular biologist who is executive producer of the documentary.

Given new advances in technology, "The whole idea was to make a seamless voyage through one body," said Marsh. "We all have external appearances that are very different, but our internal lives are surprisingly similar."

Palter obtained his footage by advancing well-established procedures that allow doctors to insert cameras through small incisions and view the target areas of their surgeries. He successfully hooked up high-definition cameras and, he said, was awestruck by the results.