Publications by authors named "Michael K Southworth"

Background: CommandEP™ is a mixed reality (MXR) system for cardiac electrophysiological (EP) procedures that provides a real-time 3-dimensional digital image of cardiac geometry and catheter locations. In a previous study, physicians using the system demonstrated improved navigational accuracy. This study investigated the impact of the CommandEP system on EP procedural times compared to the standard-of-care electroanatomic mapping system (EAMS) display.

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Background: Use of ultrasound (US) to facilitate vascular access has increased compared to landmark-based procedures despite ergonomic challenges and need for extrapolation of 2-dimensional images to understand needle position. The MantUS™ system (Sentiar, Inc.,) uses a mixed reality (MxR) interface to display US images and integrate real-time needle tracking.

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The use of innovative imaging practices in the field of interventional cardiology and electrophysiology has led to significant progress in both diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities. 3D reconstructions of 2D images allows a proceduralist to develop a superior understanding of patient anatomy. Medical extended reality (MXR) technologies employ 3D interactive images for the user to improve depth perception and spatial awareness.

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The extended realities, including virtual, augmented, and mixed realities (VAMR) have recently experienced significant hardware improvement resulting in an expansion in medical applications. These applications can be classified by the target end user (for instance, classifying applications as patient-centric, physician-centric, or both) or by use case (for instance educational, diagnostic tools, therapeutic tools, or some combination). When developing medical applications in VAMR, careful consideration of both the target end user and use case must heavily influence design considerations, particularly methods and tools for interaction and navigation.

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Background: Recently, an augmented reality (AR) solution allows the physician to place the ablation catheter at the designated lesion site more accurately during cardiac electrophysiology studies. The improvement in navigation accuracy may positively affect ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation termination, however assessment of this in the clinic would be difficult. Novel personalized virtual heart technology enables non-invasive identification of optimal lesion targets for infarct-related VT.

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Many clinical procedures would benefit from direct and intuitive real-time visualization of anatomy, surgical plans, or other information crucial to the procedure. Three-dimensional augmented reality (3D-AR) is an emerging technology that has the potential to assist physicians with spatial reasoning during clinical interventions. The most intriguing applications of 3D-AR involve visualizations of anatomy or surgical plans that appear directly on the patient.

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Unlabelled: Cardiac electrophysiology procedures present the physician with a wealth of 3D information, typically presented on fixed 2D monitors. New developments in wearable mixed reality displays offer the potential to simplify and enhance 3D visualization while providing hands-free, dynamic control of devices within the procedure room.

Objective: This work aims to evaluate the performance and quality of a mixed reality system designed for intraprocedural use in cardiac electrophysiology.

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With the rapid expansion of hardware options in the extended realities (XRs), there has been widespread development of applications throughout many fields, including engineering, entertainment and medicine. Development of medical applications for the XRs have a unique set of considerations during development and human factors testing. Additionally, understanding the constraints of the user and the use case allow for iterative improvement.

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Recent miniaturization of electronic components and advances in image processing software have facilitated the entry of extended reality technology into clinical practice. In the last several years, the number of applications in cardiology has multiplied, with many promising to become standard of care. We review many of these applications in the areas of patient and physician education, cardiac rehabilitation, pre-procedural planning and intraprocedural use.

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Purpose Of Review: Advances in display technology and computing have led to new devices capable of overlaying digital information onto the physical world or incorporating aspects of the physical world into virtual scenes. These combinations of digital and physical environments are referred to as extended realities. Extended reality (XR) devices offer many advantages for medical applications including realistic 3D visualization and touch-free interfaces that can be used in sterile environments.

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