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WASHINGTON, DC — A research team from Duke University has developed a new 3-D tool that allows trainees in transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to have real-time instruction in obtaining and interpreting high-quality images of the heart and major vessels using the Apple iPad. The educational program was unveiled at the annual Anesthesiology 2012 meeting.
TEE is performed using a specialized ultrasound probe that is passed into a patient’s esophagus to perform an echocardiogram of the heart. The procedure helps physicians visualize cardiac anatomy. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists and American Society of Echocardiography strongly support the use of 3-D TEE as an advanced diagnostic application for cardiac surgical patients.
“3D ultrasound imaging for heart surgery is an important tool for anesthesiologists to relay real-time anatomical information to cardiac surgeons,” said lead study author Brandi Bottiger, M.D., Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Division, Duke University Hospital. “It has a distinct advantage in cardiac surgery by displaying anatomy in a similar way to how surgeons visualize the actual structures.”
According to Dr. Bottiger, acquiring and interpreting 3D echocardiography images continues to be conceptually challenging for trainees. The program created by the Duke team offers a user-friendly, portable teaching tool that can be used while performing an examination in real-time in the operating room.
With videos acquired using an esophageal ultrasound probe, the researchers used software programs to create annotated instructional movies, which may also be viewed on the trainee’s iPad. The educational device has only currently been used for anesthesiology trainees and residents at Duke, and it has been developed specifically for the iPad only.
“For the greatest effect, this product should be available on multiple handheld devices,” said Dr. Bottiger. “The next phase of the project will be to determine whether this new educational approach is a valid instructional model for echocardiography education with an overall goal to optimize patient care through improved understanding of 3D echocardiography.”