Gerardo Tibamoso-Pedraza1, Iñaki Navarro2, Patrice Dion3, Marie-Josée Raboisson2, Chantale Lapierre2, Joaquim Miró2, Sylvie Ratté3, Luc Duong3. 1. Interventional Imaging Lab, Department of Software and IT Engineering, École de technologie supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame West, Montreal, H3C 1K3, Canada. gerardo.tibamoso-pedraza.1@etsmtl.net. 2. Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, H3T 1C5, Canada. 3. Interventional Imaging Lab, Department of Software and IT Engineering, École de technologie supérieure, 1100 Notre-Dame West, Montreal, H3C 1K3, Canada.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Ventricular septal defects (VSDs) are common congenital heart malformations. Echocardiography used during VSD hybrid cardiac procedures requires extensive training for image acquisition and interpretation. Cardiac surgery simulators with heart phantoms have shown usefulness for such training, but they are limited in visualization and characterization of complex VSD. This study explores a new method to build patient-specific heart phantoms with VSD, with proper tissue echogenicity for ultrasound imaging. METHODS: Heart phantoms were designed from preoperative imaging of three patients with complex VSDs. Each whole heart phantom, including atrial and ventricular septums, was obtained by manual segmentation and by surface reconstruction, then by molding and by casting in different materials. Heart phantoms in silicone and polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) were considered, and they were reconstructed in 3-D using 2-D freehand ultrasound imaging. RESULTS: An electromagnetic measurement system was used to measure the mean VSD diameters from the heart phantoms. Errors were evaluated below 1.0 mm for mean VSD diameters between 6.2 and 7.5 mm. CONCLUSION: Patient-specific heart phantoms promise for representing complex heart malformations such as VSDs. PVA-C showed better tissue echogenicity than silicone for VSDs visualization and characterization.
PURPOSE: Ventricular septal defects (VSDs) are common congenital heart malformations. Echocardiography used during VSD hybrid cardiac procedures requires extensive training for image acquisition and interpretation. Cardiac surgery simulators with heart phantoms have shown usefulness for such training, but they are limited in visualization and characterization of complex VSD. This study explores a new method to build patient-specific heart phantoms with VSD, with proper tissue echogenicity for ultrasound imaging. METHODS: Heart phantoms were designed from preoperative imaging of three patients with complex VSDs. Each whole heart phantom, including atrial and ventricular septums, was obtained by manual segmentation and by surface reconstruction, then by molding and by casting in different materials. Heart phantoms in silicone and polyvinyl alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) were considered, and they were reconstructed in 3-D using 2-D freehand ultrasound imaging. RESULTS: An electromagnetic measurement system was used to measure the mean VSD diameters from the heart phantoms. Errors were evaluated below 1.0 mm for mean VSD diameters between 6.2 and 7.5 mm. CONCLUSION: Patient-specific heart phantoms promise for representing complex heart malformations such as VSDs. PVA-C showed better tissue echogenicity than silicone for VSDs visualization and characterization.
Authors: Natasha Alves; Angela Kim; Jeremy Tan; Germain Hwang; Talha Javed; Bogdan Neagu; Brian K Courtney Journal: Ultrasound Med Biol Date: 2020-05-16 Impact factor: 2.998