I-Corps: Virtual Reality System to Plan Cardiovascular Interventions

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是优化某些心脏病患者的结局，从而降低医疗成本。我们开发了一种虚拟现实手术计划工具，使我们能够更好地了解哪些患者处于高风险状态，并更好地为他们计划手术。如果这种工具得到广泛使用，其好处可能包括改善结构性心脏病患者的总体结局，减少再干预，缩短住院时间，降低医疗成本，提高生活质量。此外，这些工具也可能对神经外科医生和整形外科医生有用。最后，如果医学教育通过虚拟现实得到改善，这将导致更好的医生拥有更多的解剖学知识。在商业影响方面，该项目有多种潜在的商业化途径。首先，儿科心脏病专家和心胸外科医生等最终用户可以为自己的患者使用虚拟现实手术规划工具。此外，制造瓣膜的医疗器械公司可以使用该软件来教授医生使用其产品的最佳方法，并与竞争对手区分开来。最后，成像公司可以将其包装为下一阶段的放射学解释软件。这个I-Corps项目的重点是使用真正的3D可视化和现代虚拟现实技术来规划结构性心脏病干预和手术。这些干预措施需要详细了解解剖结构的不同部分在空间中如何相互关联。真正的3D可视化的发展使理解这些关系的新方法成为可能。已经有研究表明，使用3D打印来规划复杂的先天性心脏病病例可以改善手术决策。这使得外科医生在开胸后不得不改变主意进行手术的情况减少。因此，如果完成预期的手术，人们会期望更好的结果和更高的患者满意度。此外，早期的报告表明，虚拟现实可能有助于改善外科教育。该项目中的虚拟现实系统已被用于计划以前认为不可行的创新心脏干预。目前尚不清楚的是对先天性心脏病和成人结构性心脏病患者长期预后的影响程度。虚拟现实手术计划工具的进一步发展将使该领域的进步，因为我们调查的贡献虚拟现实可以使。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to optimize outcomes for patients with certain kinds of heart disease and thus reduce healthcare costs. We have developed a virtual reality surgical planning tool which allows us to better understand which patients are at high risk, and better plan surgeries for them. If this tool becomes widely used, the benefits could include improving overall outcomes for people with structural heart disease, leading to fewer reinterventions, shorter hospital stays, lower healthcare costs, and improved quality of life. In addition, these tools may also be useful to neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons. Finally, if medical education is improved through virtual reality, this would lead to better physicians with more knowledge of anatomy. Regarding commercial impact, the project has multiple potential commercialization pathways. First, end users such as pediatric cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons can use the virtual reality surgical planning tool for their own patients. Further, medical device companies that make valves could use the software to teach physicians optimal ways to use their products, and to differentiate from their competitors. Finally, imaging companies could package this as the next stage of radiology interpretation software. This I-Corps project focuses on planning structural heart disease interventions and surgeries using true 3D visualization with modern virtual reality techniques. These interventions require a detailed understanding of how different parts of the anatomy relate to each other in space. The development of true 3D visualization has enabled new ways of understanding these relationships. Already, it has been shown that the use of 3D printing in planning complex cases of congenital heart disease can improve surgical decision-making. This resulted in fewer cases where the surgeon had to change her mind about which surgery to perform after opening the chest. One would therefore expect better outcomes and greater patient satisfaction if the expected procedure is done. In addition, early reports suggest that virtual reality may be useful in improving surgical education. The virtual reality system in this project has already been used to plan innovative heart interventions that were previously not considered feasible. What is yet unknown is the extent of the effect on longer-term patient outcomes, both within congenital heart disease and in adult structural heart disease. Further development of virtual reality surgical planning tools will allow the field to advance as we investigate the contribution virtual reality can make.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.