Linking human anatomy to knowledge bases: a visual front end for electronic medical records.

A new concept of a visual electronic medical record is presented based on developments ongoing in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Virtual Soldier Project. This new concept is based on the holographic medical electronic representation (Holomer) and on data formats being developed to support this. The Holomer is being developed in two different visualization environments, one of which is suitable for prototyping the visual electronic medical record. The advantages of a visual approach as a front end for electronic medical records are discussed and specific implementations are presented.