Phoenix Virtual Heart: A Hybrid VR-Desktop Visualization System for Cardiac Surgery Planning and Education

Physicians diagnosing and treating complex, structural congenital heart disease (CHD), i.e., heart defects present at birth, often rely on visualization software that scrolls through a volume stack of two-dimensional (2D) medical images. Due to limited display dimensions, conventional desktop-based applications have difficulties facilitating physicians converting 2D images to 3D intelligence. Recently, 3D printing of anatomical models has emerged as a technique to analyze CHD, but current workflows are tedious. To this end, we introduce and describe our ongoing work developing the Phoenix Virtual Heart (PVH), a hybrid VR -desktop software to aid in CHD surgical planning and family consultation. PVH is currently being integrated into a 3D printing workflow at a children's hospital as a way to increase physician efficiency and confidence, allowing physicians to analyze virtual anatomical models for surgical planning and family consultation. We describe the iterative design process that led to PVH, discuss how it fits into a 3D printing workflow, and present formative feedback from clinicians that are beginning to use the application.

1 Introduction

Congenital heart disease (CHD) refers to a pathology of the heart which is present at birth. The most difficult cases are complex, structural defects, in general. Catheter, a mechanism that can be used to dilate / occlude anatomical structures or deliver other device types, and / or surgical interventions are often required during infancy for these complex cases [16]. For both catheter and surgical planning, physicians employ visualization tools for understanding of the spatial relationships of lesions and anatomy.