| Motivation |
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Cardiovascular surgery is a very complex procedure due to the complexity of the human heart and various heart diseases.
At present, no convenient computer tool is available for the surgeons to perform pre-operative planning and simulation. They often rely on manual drawing to visualize the surgical procedure and the expected results. This approach is not precise and is impossible to provide detailed information about the possible outcome of the surgical procedure.
To improve the precision and effectiveness of cardiac surgical planning, novel computer simulation systems that perform planning and simulation of cardiovascular surgeries are in demand. These systems should be able to help the surgeons to easily explore various surgical options, predict the surgical outcomes of different options, accurately evaluate the surgical outcomes and determine the best surgical options. |
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| Research Goal |
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Our research goal is to develop a predictive simulation system for cardiovascular surgery. This system visualizes 3D models reconstructed from patient's CT/MR images for the surgeon's reference. Given a small number of user inputs, the system can predict complex surgical results that involve soft tissues such as the heart and the blood vessels. With this kind of system, the surgeon does not have to go through all the surgical steps to see the expected surgical results. They can easily and efficiently explore various surgical options to develop a comprehensive surgical plan. |
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| Current Results |
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Smooth Joining of Blood Vessels |
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Our method can compute a smooth join with minimum twisting.
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Initial configuration |
Smooth join with
minimum twisting |
Smooth join with
undesirable twisting |
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Initial configuration |
Smooth join with
minimum twisting |
Smooth join with
undesirable twisting |
 Video Demo: Elastic Tube |
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Arterial Switch Operation (partial results) |
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Heart model with TGA |
Transections of aorta and
pulmonary trunk (not shown) |
Aorta is joined to neo-aortic root |
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Aorta Reconstruction |
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Expanded aorta joined to neo-aortic root |
Expanded aorta and patch |
Reconstructed aorta |
A good join avoids excessive bending and twisting of the aorta.
By visualizing the virtual surgical results, a surgeon can assess the quality of the results of various surgical options.
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Joined aorta without twisting |
Joined aorta with twisting
(red color: amount of twisting) |
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Aorta does not collide with spine
(good join) |
Aorta collides with spine
(bad join) |
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Bidirectional Glenn Shunt |
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We applied our method to perform virtual surgery of bidirectional Glenn shunt (BDG), which cut the superior vena cava (SCV) and joins it to the right pulmonary artery (RPA). Comparison with post-op CT shows that our predicted surgical results are very similar to the actual surgical results.
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Reconstructed TGA heart model |
Cut paths on SVC and RPA |
Predicted surgical result |
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Predicted surgical result |
Actual surgical result |
Predicted surgical result |
Actual surgical result |
Video Demo: Simulation and planning of complex heart surgery |
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| Researchers |
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Mr. Li Hao, Ph.D. student, Dept. of Computer Science, Natioanl University of Singapore |
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A/Prof. Leow Wee Kheng, Dept. of Computer Science, Natioanl University of Singapore |
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Prof. Ing-Sh Chiu, Dept. of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital |
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Dr. Leo Hwa Liang,
Division of Bioengineering, National University of Singapore |
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A/Prof. Tongdar Tang,
Dept. of Mechatronic Engineering, Huafan University |
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| Publications |
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H. Li. Predictive Surgical Simulation for Preoperative Planning of Complex Cardiovascular Surgeries, Ph.D. dissertation, June 2010. |
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H. Li, W. K. Leow, and I.-S. Chiu. Predictive Simulation of Bidirectional Glenn Shunt Using a Hybrid Blood Vessel Model. In Proc. Int. Conf. on Medial Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), Sep 2009. |
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H. Li, W. K. Leow, Y. Qi, and I.-S. Chiu. Predictive Surgical Simulation of Aorta Reconstruction in Cardiac Surgery. In Proc. Int. Conf. on Medicient Meets Virtual Reality, 19-22 Jan 2009. |
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H. Li, W. K. Leow, and I.-S. Chiu. Modeling Torsion of Blood Vessels in Surgical Simulation and Planning. In Proc. Int. Conf. on Medicient Meets Virtual Reality, 19-22 Jan 2009. |
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H. Li and W. K. Leow. Predictive Surgical Simulation for Planning Cardiac Surgeries. Innovation, 8(2): 32-33, 2008. |
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H. Li, W. K. Leow, I.-S. Chiu, and S.-C. Huang. Deformation and Smooth Joining of Mesh Models for Predictive Cardiac Surgical Simulation. In Proc. Int. Conf. on Geometric Modeling and Processing, 23-25 April 2008. |
