News
HSI Seed Grant Recipient, Dr. Jarek Rossignac, featured in ACM TechNews and GT College of Computing Website
3D model shown in the software package SurgEm, developed by Dr. Rossignac and and his graduate students
Software aids pediatric cardiac surgeons by providing digital 3D model of the patient’s actual heart
With advances in image processing, engineers are now able to reconstruct and manipulate accurate 3D representations of patient anatomy. This technology provides the ability for surgeons to virtually operate on their patients and plan the course of action before making an incision. The underlying hypothesis for the development of such tools is that, by providing the surgeon with the capability to visualize, manipulate, and evaluate 3D patient-specific surgical options prior to operation, the optimal approach for reconstructionwill be implemented more frequently, thus improving patient outcomes.
An example of such tools has been developed at Georgia Tech for the limited and specific purpose of optimizing Fontan repairs in single ventricle patients; however, this concept has the potential to benefit many more patients by applying it to a broader range of surgical indications. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to further develop, implement, and validate a surgical planning framework for a new class of patients, those requiring complex cardiac reconstruction due to congenital heart defects. Examples include, but are not limited to, double outlet right ventricle; unbalanced complete or partial atrioventricular septal defects; heterotaxy patients requiring complex intra-atrial baffling; and pulmonary atresia/intact ventricular septum with marginal RV size.
Read the article "Software Improves and Predicts Outcome of Lifesaving Children’s Heart Surgery in 3D" within the ACM TechNews website and the article "Technology Improves and Predicts Outcome of Lifesaving Child Heart Surgery" within the Georgia Tech College of Computing website to learn more about the initiative.
About the HSI Seed Grant Program
With funding from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University, and Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, College of Computing, College of Architecture, GVU Center and Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at Georgia Tech, the Health Systems Institute (HSI) has established a seed grant funding program to support collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects that will help stimulate innovative healthcare research and promote improvements in healthcare. The seed grant awards are specifically designed to provide funding for novel projects that demonstrate a high potential for enhanced diagnostic capabilities of diseases, lead to new inventions that yield new patents, licenses and/or commercial products, lead to high quality peer-reviewed publications and those with high potential to leverage seed funding into extra-mural support. For more information relating to the program, please visit the Seed Grant Program area with the HSI website.