Pioneering Patient-Specific Approaches for Precision Surgery Using Imaging and Virtual Reality

Endovascular treatment of complex vascular anomalies shifts the risk of open surgical procedures to the benefit of minimally invasive endovascular procedural solutions. Complex open surgical procedures used to be the only option for the treatment of a myriad of conditions like pulmonary and aortic valve replacement as well as cerebral aneurysm repair. However, due to advancements in catheter-delivered devices and operator expertise, these procedures (along with many others) can now be performed through minimally invasive procedures delivered through a central or peripheral vein or artery. The decision to shift from an open procedure to an endovascular approach is based on multi-modal imaging, often including 3D Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) imaging datasets. Utilizing these 3D images, our lab generates 3D models of the pathologic anatomy, thereby allowing the pre-procedural analysis necessary to pre-plan critical components of the catheterization lab procedure, namely, C-arm positioning, 3D measurement, and idealized road-map generation. This article describes how to take segmented 3D models of patient-specific pathology and predict generalized C-arm positions, how to measure critical two-dimensional (2D) measurements of 3D structures relevant to the 2D fluoroscopy projections, and how to generate 2D fluoroscopy roadmap analogs that can assist in proper C-arm positioning during catheterization lab procedures.