Virtual reality opens up blocked heart
Monday, 23 November, 2015
Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to revolutionize aspects of medicine and healthcare. Several medical specialties are already using it to train physicians and assist diagnosis and treatment. A group of cardiologists from the Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland has successfully used a VR device to guide the opening up (revascularisation) of a chronically blocked right coronary artery.
Chronic total occlusion, a complete blockage of the coronary artery, sometimes referred to as the 'final frontier in interventional cardiology,' represents a major challenge for catheter-based coronary intervention (PCI).
Consequently, new imaging methods are in demand. Coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) with 3D projections displayed on separate monitors is increasingly used to provide physicians with guidance when performing PCI. This procedure provides a clearer image than in invasive angiography but is not widely used due to cost and technical complexity.
Using VR, researchers successfully restored blood flow in the occluded right coronary artery of a 49-year-old male patient. The surgeon was assisted by CTA projections in a wearable VR device based on Google Glass, a wearable, hands-free computer with an optical head-mounted display.
The Google Glass displayed a 3D reconstruction of the heart for the surgeon with a hands-free voice recognition system and a zoom function, developed specifically for this purpose. This allowed the surgeon to clearly visualize the distal coronary vessel and the direction of the guide wire advancement as it moved through the course of the blocked vessel segment.
Google Glass can display and capture images and videos while interacting with the surrounding environment. VR technology is easily accessible and offers an opportunity to expand the options for mobile applications, which might encourage a wider use of projection of CTA data sets.
Reference: Elsevier Health Sciences. "First-in-human use of virtual reality imaging in cardiac cath lab to treat blocked coronary artery: Virtual reality device successfully used to guide recanalization of right coronary artery." ScienceDaily
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