Reliability of Immersive Virtual Reality for Pre-Procedural Planning for TAVI: A CT-Based Validation.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Medical Technology
• Structural Heart Disease

Background:

• Accurate pre-procedural anatomical assessment is critical for structural heart disease interventions like TAVI.
• Advanced 3D imaging offers potential for improved visualization and reconstruction accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of a novel immersive 3D virtual reality environment (VEA) for pre-procedural planning in TAVI candidates.
• To compare VEA measurements with established CT analysis tools.

Main Methods:

• Cardiac-gated contrast-enhanced CT scans from 50 TAVI candidates were analyzed using VEA, 3Mensio, and Horos.
• Measurements included aortic annulus and left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) dimensions.

Main Results:

• VEA measurements strongly correlated with standard CT analysis for both annular (ICC=0.93, CCC=0.83) and LVOT (ICC=0.90, CCC=0.77) dimensions.
• VEA-based planning improved prosthesis size selection accuracy and showed significant reclassification gain over conventional CT.
• VEA demonstrated excellent consistency and agreement with established methods.

Conclusions:

• VEA provides a reliable and accurate assessment of aortic root anatomy for TAVI planning.
• This 3D software enables patient-specific reconstructions, potentially optimizing valve sizing, procedural safety, and outcomes.
• Further studies are warranted to confirm the procedural benefits of 3D assessment in TAVI.