(ROCKVILLE, MD) October 13, 1997 - The U.S. Department of Commerce last week announced a $3.6 million partnership and co-funding agreement with HT Medical Systems, Inc. (HT Medical) to accelerate technology development in medical simulation and pre-operative planning.
The technology to be developed will allow, for the first time, operative rehearsal prior to patient contact. Market research firm Medical Data International estimates the potential medical market by the year 2000 for image-guided and medical virtual reality (VR) simulation products at $6.57 billion.
Interactive Three-Dimensional Patient Visualization
HT Medical’s PreOp™ technology will, unlike anything previously available, allow realistic rehearsal without risk to patients.
The significant challenges addressed by this research are in the development of techniques for building three-dimensional interactive computer models from standard medical imaging systems, including Magnetic Resonance (MR), Computed Tomographic (CT) and others. The resulting computer models will look realistic, incorporate the physics of living tissue, and allow for the simulated sense of touch—allowing the physician to see, feel, and practice without risk to the patient.
Under this agreement, HT Medical will advance its proprietary computer modeling, medical visualization software, and tactile feedback robotics and integrate this technology with new low-cost/high-power graphics computers to achieve highly realistic pre-operative rehearsal systems. If successful, innovations will include:
- physics-based computer modeling of medical device dynamics
- methods for integrating patient-specific data into a simulation system
- force feedback robotic technology
- a novel process for measuring actual medical device characteristics
- automated 3D measuring of internal organs
- techniques for registration of polygonal data within patient-specific volumetric data
- a novel automated digital patient record creation tool
The government funding for this partnership is from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The ATP seeks to benefit the U.S. economy by cost-sharing research with industry to foster new, innovative technologies.
A significant motivating factor behind this development is a current need for bridging the experience gap between the number of patients physicians operate on and the number of patients they need to operate on to maintain their skills. The American Heart Association has reported that with technology used in angioplasty growing more complex even as the procedure itself becomes more commonplace, the experience gap for successful outcomes will only widen. Other research yields similar conclusions:
Complication rates are 69% higher for doctors who perform fewer than 70 angioplasties a year versus those who handle more than
270. (Ellis, S., et al., AHA Report, June 3, 1997)
The current experience gap has been documented to cause an annual toll of 1.3 million injuries, 180,000 deaths, and $50 billion.
(Lucien Leape, MD, Adjunct Professor of Health Policy, Harvard School of Public Health)
Virtual reality medical simulators address many of these concerns by providing a platform for repeated practice and objective assessment of procedural skills and cognitive decision-making.
"The need is for reduction of errors, improvement of outcomes, and reduction of costs. The PreOp system will be the most powerful tool ever created to achieve these goals," said Greg Merril, HT Medical President and CEO.
The initial emphasis of the system is in fluoroscopically guided procedures ranging from percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) to stent graft deployment. The basic function of PreOp is to accept sequential data from common medical imaging hardware and to integrate that data with physics-based computer models of medical devices to create a patient-specific simulated environment for pre-operative planning, rehearsal, and training. This learning tool will specifically address several of the most significant barriers to the adoption of minimally invasive procedures, including problems with inaccurate sizing of stent grafts due to the wide variety of diameters, lengths, anatomy, angulation, and tortuosity of abdominal aortic aneurysms.
HT Medical Systems, Inc.
HT Medical Systems, Inc. (HT Medical), founded in 1987 and based in Rockville, Maryland, is a leading developer of virtual reality medical technology. HT Medical integrates proprietary computer modeling, medical visualization software, and tactile feedback robotics with low-cost, high-power, graphics computers to achieve highly realistic simulation systems. Three product lines cover interventional radiology/cardiology, endoscopy, and intravenous therapies.
HT Medical’s technology has been recognized internationally for its innovation. In 1995, the Smithsonian selected HT Medical's technology for the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History. The technology was selected by Discover magazine as second only to JAVA as the software innovation of the year (1996). Fortune magazine listed HT Medical as "one of 25 cool companies for products, ideas, and investments."
In addition to the support of the ATP, HT Medical’s research and development efforts are supported by the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Navy, private investors, and a coalition of leading medical device and pharmaceutical companies.
Advanced Technology Program
The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) provides cost-shared funding to industry for R&D projects with the potential to spark important, broad-based economic benefits for the United States.
The awards are made on the basis of a rigorous competitive review considering scientific and technical merit of each and its potential benefits to the U.S. economy. The program does not fund product development. Applicants must include a detailed business plan for bringing the new technology to market once technical milestones have been achieved under ATP support. The program is managed by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology.
