The cardiac morphology in patients with congenital heart disease is often very complex and variable from individual to individual. Consequently, accurate morphological information remains of outmost importance when planning the surgical intervention. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the imaging modality that currently provides the best soft tissue contrasts. New visualization techniques based on three-dimensional MRI have been developed and is now being implemented and tested clinically at Aarhus University Hospital.

Partners

• CAVI, University of Aarhus
  - Thomas Sangild Sørensen
• Aarhus University Hospital
  MR Research Center
  - Erik Morre Pedersen, MD, DMSc, PhD
  Dept. of Cardiothoracic Surgery
  - Ole Kromann Hansen, MD
  Dept. Cardiology
  - Keld Sørensen, MD
• Systematic Software Engineering
  - Søren Vorre Therkildsen

Results
The preliminary results show that cardiac morphology in congenital heart disease can be accurately reconstructed and represented by virtual models. As MR image quality continuously improves, image processing times are being reduced rapidly. This will undoubtedly make three-dimensional MRI with virtual reconstructions an important clinical investigative tool within the nearest future.

The process from scanning to visualization
on virtual reality equipment.

Related research will implement elastic tissue properties, allow cutting the model and inserting patches, as first steps towards a surgical simulator/trainer.

Links

• Systematic Software Engineering: Virtual Reality Heart

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