Virtual reality for clinical care and training in congenital diseases

全球出生的婴儿中有6%受到先天性疾病的影响。尽管在儿科手术程序和干预措施方面取得了巨大进展，但这些儿童的预期寿命低于平均人口，因为治疗结果仍然不确定，他们的护理给国家经济带来了巨大的财政负担。与患有获得性疾病的成年患者相比，患有出生缺陷的儿童通常具有广泛的解剖结构和条件，这些结构和条件往往是独特和复杂的，而且随着孩子的成长而变化。为了评估病情和计划治疗，临床医生在很大程度上依赖于诊断成像，它提供了有关疾病器官的解剖和功能信息，但通常仍以2D屏幕上的一叠横断面图像或重建图像的形式呈现。因此，即使对于专业临床医生来说，解释常规获取的图像、完全了解缺陷的3D解剖结构并计划最佳治疗仍然具有挑战性。在这笔拨款中，我们建议测试一个虚拟现实(VR)平台，以回应上文概述的未得到满足的临床需求。该平台不仅将通过其独特的逼真、身临其境的体验来提高对每个先天性病例的理解，而且还允许在对儿童进行实际手术之前可视化不同的治疗方法和可能的解决方案。多名参与者将在VR环境中进行互动，从本质上加强医疗专业人员之间以及与患者/父母之间的沟通。最后，它将成为一个无价的培训工具，拥有一个独特的先天性病例储存库，使新一代专门受训人员受益。我们将利用我们在伦敦大学学院和大奥蒙德街儿童医院的地位，测试和验证VR在临床和专业培训应用中的影响和有效性，目的是增加资产价值并制定商业化的商业计划。

Congenital diseases affect 6% of babies born worldwide. Despite dramatic progress in paediatric surgical procedures and interventions, life expectancy for these children is lower than the average population, as treatment outcomes remain uncertain, and the financial burden of their care on country economies is enormous. Children with birth defects, compared to adult patients with acquired diseases, typically present with a wide range of anatomies and conditions, that are often unique and complex, and that change as the child grows. To assess conditions and plan treatments, clinicians relay heavily on diagnostic imaging, which provides anatomical and functional information on the diseased organs, but that is, however, often still presented as a stack of cross-sectional images or reconstructions on a 2D screen. Thus, it remains challenging even for expert clinicians to interpret routinely acquired images, fully understand the 3D anatomy of the defect and plan the best treatment. In this grant, we propose to test a virtual reality (VR) platform that will respond to the unmet clinical needs outlined above. The platform will not only improve the understanding of each individual congenital case via its unique realistic, immersive experience, but also allow visualisation of different treatment approaches and possible solutions before the actual procedure is performed on the child. Multiple participants will interact in the VR environment, intrinsically enhancing communication amongst healthcare professionals and with patients/parents. Finally, it will become an invaluable training tool, with a unique repository of congenital cases to benefit the new generation of specialised trainees. We will leverage our position at UCL & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children to test and validate the impact and effectiveness of VR in clinical and specialty training applications, with the aim ofincreasing asset value and drawing a business plan for commercialisation.