Philips Healthcare and Israeli 3D holographic display developer RealView Imaging said they have finished a clinical study evaluating the use of live 3D holographic imaging in interventional cardiology.
The pilot study, which involved eight patients and was conducted in collaboration with Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petach Tikva, Israel, demonstrated the feasibility of using live 3D holographic visualization and interaction technology to guide minimally invasive structural heart disease procedures, according to the firms.
RealView's visualization technology was used to display the interactive, real-time 3D holographic images acquired by Philips' interventional x-ray and cardiac ultrasound systems.
Doctors on the Schneider Children's Medical interventional team were able to view the patient's heart on a 2D screen, and they could also view dynamic 3D holographic images of the heart "floating in free space" without using special eyewear during a minimally invasive procedure to treat structural heart disease, according to Philips and RealView. They were able to manipulate the projected 3D heart structures by touching the holographic volumes in front of them.
Dr. Elchanan Bruckheimer, a pediatric cardiologist and director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at Schneider Children's Medical, will present the study results on October 29 at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium in San Francisco.
