A team of doctors in Warsaw has used virtual reality (VR) technology to help clear a patient’s blocked coronary artery, marking a potentially huge step forward for cardiology procedures. The VR system combined a specific mobile application with Google Glass, which consists of a wearable optical display, in order to provide an enhanced view of the interior of the artery.
The patient was a 49-year-old male suffering from chronic total occlusion (CTO), a total blockage of the coronary artery for a period of at least three months, resulting in decreased blood flow. It is considered to be among the most challenging conditions to treat, with traditional procedures – such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) – yielding highly variable results. Because of this, interventional cardiologists have been advocating the development of new techniques to treat CTO for some time.
Among the major difficulties facing cardiologists when performing PCI, which involves the insertion of a stent using a catheter, is their inability to accurately visualize the arteries they are working on. Typically, this is achieved via a method called coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA), involving the intravenous injection of a harmless dye into the problematic blood vessels so that they can be scanned in order to generate images of the blockage.
To improve their usage of these images, the doctors at Warsaw’s Institute of Cardiology used Google Glass to access three-dimensional CTA reconstructions of the blood vessels they were working on. They were able to adjust their view of these images via a voice-activated mobile application capable of zooming in on specific areas. As a result, the cardiologists managed to accurately discern the direction of the guide wire being used to implant a pair of drug-eluted stents, which slowly release medications in order to aid the revascularization (opening up) of the blocked vessel.
Image shows (A) a cardiologist wearing the Google Glass headset in order to access 3D CTA images of a blocked artery; (B, C) 3D CTA reconstructions of blocked artery, as displayed on the Google Glass optical display. Credit: Canadian Journal of Cardiology
The team has now published a report of the procedure in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, and hopes that its success can spark an increase in the use of VR during cardiology interventions.
Should the technique become more widely used, it would represent another step forward for VR in medical care and procedures. For instance, aside from its potential to enhance surgeons’ capacity to operate within the body, VR is also being used to assist doctors in their face-to-face interactions with patients, by enabling them to practice on “virtual patients.”
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