Role of virtual reality in congenital heart disease
Chin Siang Ong1, Aravind Krishnan1, Chen Yu Huang1, Philip Spevak2, Luca Vricella1, Narutoshi Hibino1, Juan R. Garcia2, Lasya Gaur3
1 Division of Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins
Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
2 Department of Art as Applied to Medicine,
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
Baltimore, MD, USA
3 Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Johns
Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
* Corresponding Author: Lasya Gaur, MD, Pediatric Cardiology, 1800 Orleans Street M2321, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore MD 21230. Email:
Congenital Heart Disease 2018, 13(3), 357-361. https://doi.org/10.1111/chd.12587
Abstract
Objective: New platforms for patient imaging present opportunities for improved surgical planning
in complex congenital heart disease (CHD). Virtual reality (VR) allows for interactive manipulation
of high-resolution representations of patient-specific imaging data, as a supplement to traditional
2D visualizations and 3D printed heart models.
Design: We present the novel use of VR for the presurgical planning of cardiac surgery in two
infants with complex CHD to demonstrate interactive real-time views of complex intra and extracardiac anatomy.
Results: The use of VR for cardiac presurgical planning is feasible using existing imaging data. The
software was evaluated by both pediatric cardiac surgeons and pediatric cardiologists, and felt to
be reliable and operated with a very short learning curve.
Conclusions: VR with controller-based interactive capability allows for interactive viewing of 3D
models with complex intra and extracardiac anatomy. This serves as a useful complement to
traditional preoperative planning methods in terms of its potential for group based collaborative
discussion, user defined illustrative views, cost-effectiveness, and facility of use.
Keywords
cardiac surgery, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital heart disease, truncus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect, virtual reality
Cite This Article
Ong, C. S., Krishnan, A., Huang, C. Y., Spevak, P., Vricella, L. et al. (2018). Role of virtual reality in congenital heart disease. Congenital Heart Disease, 13(3), 357–361.