Coronary Artery Visualization System

在美国，心脏病是导致死亡人数最多的疾病。当将血液输送到心脏的冠状动脉壁被脂肪沉积堵塞时，就会发生冠心病。冠心病的主要治疗方法是冠状动脉旁路移植术(CABG)。在冠状动脉搭桥术中，使用患者身体其他部位的健康血管段，绕过冠状动脉阻塞的部分。对于大多数患者来说，很难通过肉眼或触诊来评估受影响冠状动脉的内部状况。此外，对于大约10%的患者来说，受影响的动脉被脂肪或肌肉遮挡，很难定位。该项目的目的是开发一种在外科手术中使用的系统，用于可视化冠状动脉，定位那些被脂肪或心肌组织遮挡的冠状动脉，并评估由此产生的移植物的质量。Creare系统将使心脏外科医生能够非侵入性地查看(在移植前)冠状动脉的横截面，以评估其健康状况，并在遮盖层的表面下定位埋藏的血管。Creare系统将为心脏外科医生提供一种新的工具，以优化CABG程序，从而产生更好、更一致的结果。拟议的商业应用：Creare将开发一种新的设备，用于在搭桥手术中评估和定位冠状动脉。该设备旨在帮助外科医生，将减少冠状动脉旁路移植手术的时间，并产生更好的临床结果。心脏外科医生设备供应商将对该设备感兴趣。

Heart disease is the cause of more deaths in America than any other disease. Coronary heart disease occurs when the walls of coronary arteries that carry blood to the heart are clogged with fatty deposits. A primary treatment for coronary heart disease is the coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). During a CABG, a detour is inserted around blocked portions of coronary arteries using segments of healthy vessels from other parts of the patient's body. For most patients, the internal condition of the affected coronary arteries is difficult to assess visually or by palpation. Further, for approximately 10% of patients, the affected arteries are obscured by fat or muscle and are difficult to locate. The aim of this project is to develop a system for use during surgery for visualizing coronary arteries, locating those that are obscured by fat or myocardial tissue, and assessing the quality of the resulting graft. The Creare system will allow cardiac surgeons to non-invasively view (before grafting) cross sections of the coronaries to assess their health and beneath the surface of obscuring layers to locate buried vessels. The Creare system will provide cardiac surgeons with a new tool to optimize CABG procedures which will result in better, more consistent outcomes. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Creare will develop a new device for assessing and locating coronary arteries during bypass surgery. This device is intended to assist surgeons, will reduce the time for coronary artery bypass graft procedures, and result in better clinical outcomes. The device will be of interest to vendors of equipment for cardiac surgeons.