Information Infrastructure For Healthcare (October 1997)

Pre Op The Pre-Operative Decision Support System

Sponsor: Immersion Technology (formerly HT Medical Systems, Inc.)

• Project Performance Period: 10/1/1997 - 9/30/1999
• Total project (est.): $3,632,446.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,999,595.00

Healthcare providers are under continuing pressure to contain costs while also maintaining or improving the quality of care. One way to accomplish both objectives is to reduce the invasiveness of surgical procedures, an approach that provides clear economic benefits through shortened hospital stays and also reduces trauma to the patient. However, the transition to minimally invasive surgery requires the development of methods for evaluating candidates for these procedures, selecting appropriate medical devices, training physicians, and supporting remote consultations and access to on-line reference material. To help meet these needs, HT Medical Systems proposes to design a virtual reality system that will enable physicians to use patient-specific data for diagnosis, selection of medical devices, rehearsals for operations, and remote consultations. The Pre-Operative Decision Support System (PreOp^Tm) will integrate three-dimensional data from medical imaging hardware with physics-based computer models of medical devices to create a patient-specific virtual environment for planning, rehearsals, and training. The system will encompass a tactile feedback device that can replicate the "feel" of medical instruments and also record motion, so that a procedure can be practiced before being performed in actual surgery. The technical challenges include the modeling of medical device dynamics, development of methods for integrating patient data into a real-time simulation system, design of the tracking and feedback robotics technology, and construction of a tool for creating digital patient records. Because minimally invasive medical devices (e.g., catheters) are typically made of wires, the computer modeling technology will need to accurately represent the physics of wire dynamics. PreOp^Tm is expected to improve the quality of medical decisions and physician training; reduce the incidence of surgical complications; and permit continued reductions in the invasiveness of surgical procedures, thereby reducing surgical costs and risks. The project also could expand significantly the market for medical simulation systems.

For project information:

Monica Giffhorn, (301) 984-3706
Monica@ht.com

ATP Project Manager

Barbara Cuthill, (301) 975-3273
barbara.cuthill@nist.gov