title: Virtual reality-enhanced ultrasound guidance: a novel technique for intracardiac interventions.
abstract: Cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, although a highly invasive interventional approach leading to numerous complications, is still the most common therapy option for treating many forms of cardiac disease. We are currently engaged in a project designed to replace many bypass surgeries with less traumatic, minimally invasive intracardiac therapies. This project combines real-time intra-operative echocardiography with a virtual reality environment providing the surgeon with a broad range of valuable information. Pre-operative images, electrophysiological data, positions of magnetically tracked surgical instruments, and dynamic surgical target representations are among the data that can be presented to the surgeon to augment intra-operative ultrasound images. This augmented reality system is applicable to procedures such as mitral valve replacement and atrial septal defect repair, as well as ablation therapies for treatment of atrial fibrillation. Our goal is to develop a robust augmented reality system that will improve the efficacy of intracardiac treatments and broaden the range of cardiac surgeries that can be performed in a minimally invasive manner. This paper provides an overview of our interventional system and specific experiments that assess its pre-clinical performance.
authors.affiliation: Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada. clinte@imaging.robarts.ca
authors.forename: Cristian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Linte
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Wiles
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wedlake
authors.forename: Terry M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Peters
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000601:surgery; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000601:surgery; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012984:Software; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014584:User-Computer Interface