Augmented Reality Navigation for Mitral Valve Repair
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current minimally invasive mitral valve repair techniques face challenges in navigating tools accurately due to limitations in transesophageal echocardiography guidance, particularly in maintaining spatial and temporal resolution in 3D imaging, which can lead to tool misplacement and risk of leaflet perforation.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality surgical navigation system that integrates real-time 3D tracking of medical instruments and imaging data to overlay virtual geometric models onto echocardiography images, providing enhanced spatial awareness and guidance for surgeons during heart valve repair procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If transesophageal echocardiography guidance is used for tool navigation, then real-time imaging is provided, but spatial and temporal resolution in 3D imaging deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a magnetic tracking system as an intermediary to provide accurate spatial information about the tool tip position and orientation, complementing the echocardiography imaging system. This mediator allows the system to maintain both real-time imaging capability and precise spatial measurement without relying solely on echocardiography for navigation information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent integrates data from multiple imaging planes (2D and 3D echocardiography views) and combines them with magnetic tracking data to create a comprehensive navigation system. By utilizing multiple dimensional information sources simultaneously, the system overcomes the limitations of single-plane imaging and achieves accurate 3D spatial awareness.
2Ease of operation
If 2D and 2D bi-plane views are used for navigation, then tool positioning is visualized, but simultaneous visualization of tool tip and target site deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple 2D echocardiography views with magnetic tracking data to construct a 3D representation of the navigation space. This allows the operator to visualize both the tool tip and target site simultaneously by integrating information from different imaging planes and adding the spatial dimension provided by magnetic tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The magnetic tracking system serves as an intermediary that provides continuous spatial information about tool position and orientation, filling in the gaps between sequential 2D imaging frames and enabling simultaneous visualization of distant structures that cannot be captured in a single 2D view.
3Measurement precision
If 3D echocardiography imaging is used for navigation, then spatial context is improved, but temporal resolution deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary spatial mapping using magnetic tracking to establish the navigation pathway and key anatomical landmarks before the actual intervention. This preliminary action allows for reduced temporal resolution during the main procedure since the spatial framework is already established, and only critical moments require high-speed imaging updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The magnetic tracking system acts as an intermediary that provides continuous, high-temporal-resolution spatial data independent of the echocardiography frame rate. This mediator compensates for the lower temporal resolution of 3D imaging by providing uninterrupted positional updates that fill in the temporal gaps between imaging frames.
4Ease of manufacture
If trans-apical access is used for mitral valve repair, then minimally invasive approach is achieved, but navigation accuracy to target region deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The magnetic tracking system serves as an intermediary navigation aid that provides continuous, accurate spatial information about tool position and orientation throughout the trans-apical approach. This mediator enables precise navigation to the mitral valve target region through the minimally invasive trans-apical pathway without requiring more invasive surgical exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system integrates data from multiple echocardiography imaging planes (apical, longitudinal, and short-axis views) with magnetic tracking data to construct a comprehensive 3D navigation model. This multi-dimensional approach compensates for the limited direct visualization available through the trans-apical access route and enables accurate targeting despite the minimally invasive approach.
Data Source
AI summary
To improve the overall navigation process for minimally invasive repair of heart valve leaflets, an augmented reality technique capable of providing a robust three-dimensional context for transesophogeal echocardiography data has been developed. In the context of various embodiment of the invention, augmented reality essentially refers to a system in which the primary environment is virtual but the environment is augmented by real elements. In this real-time environment, the surgeon can easily and intuitively identify the tool, surgical targets, and high risk areas, and view tool trajectories and orientations.