I-Corps: Virtual Reality System to Plan Cardiovascular Interventions

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是优化某些类型心脏病患者的预后，从而降低医疗成本。我们已经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中，并更好地为他们计划手术。如果这一工具得到广泛应用，其好处可能包括改善结构性心脏病患者的总体结果，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骨科医生有用。最后，如果通过虚拟现实改善医学教育，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终端用户可以为自己的患者使用虚拟现实手术计划工具。此外，制造阀门的医疗设备公司可以使用该软件指导医生以最佳方式使用他们的产品，从而与竞争对手区分开来。最后，成像公司可以将其打包为下一阶段的放射学解释软件。这个I-Corps项目的重点是计划结构性心脏病干预和手术，使用真正的3D可视化和现代虚拟现实技术。这些干预需要详细了解解剖结构的不同部分如何在空间上相互关联。真正的3D可视化技术的发展为理解这些关系提供了新的途径。已经有研究表明，在规划复杂的先天性心脏病病例时使用3D打印技术可以改善手术决策。这减少了外科医生在开胸手术后不得不改变主意的病例。因此，如果完成预期的程序，人们将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。这个项目中的虚拟现实系统已经被用于计划以前认为不可行的创新心脏干预措施。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在我们研究虚拟现实可以做出的贡献时向前发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.