Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Why Every Cardiac Patient Needs a Virtual Heart

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-forgot-the-password-to-my-ventricles dept.

the_newsbeagle writes: In the latest high-tech approach to personalized medicine, cardiologists can now create a computer model of an individual patient's heart and use that simulation to make a treatment plan. In this new field of computational medicine, doctors use a patient's MRI scans to make a model showing that patient's unique anatomy and pattern of heart disease. They can then experiment on that virtual organ in ways they simply can't with a flesh-and-blood heart. Proponents say this tech can "improve therapies, minimize the invasiveness of diagnostic procedures, and reduce health-care costs" in cardiology.

3 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Cost less? Doubtful. by hawkeyeMI · · Score: 3, Informative

    The difference in procedure time will be substantial. Right now most of the time spent on a VT ablation is for mapping the rhythms and scar. We can pretty much eliminate that (trials ongoing), meaning the procedure can be cut from 4-12 hours down to 2-3 hours, reliably. Considering the cost of time in the EP lab, the savings can be quite large. When it comes to ICDs, risk stratification is really important. If we can avoid putting in unnecessary devices which cost (not counting implantation) $25k-$55k, that's a big savings.

    --
    Error 404 - Sig Not Found
  2. Re:Every patient? by hawkeyeMI · · Score: 3, Informative

    1. The system is run offsite, it doesn't currently have any installation costs.
    2. It depends on what you factor in. There are a lot of costs to cover engineering and so on. The patient needs an MRI if they weren't already going to have one. That's the biggest cost depending on the hosptial (~US$2k). It's not currently being sold and pricing will have to be determined.
    3. We operate the backend, all the doctors have to do is upload the MRI. Minimal training is required to interpret the results. We're working on presenting the data to EPs in forms they are already familiar with.

    --
    Error 404 - Sig Not Found
  3. Re:Every patient? by hawkeyeMI · · Score: 3, Informative

    The largest financial burden per-patient is the imaging. An MRI can cost over $2k. The rest of the cost is going to have to do with getting a software-based medical device approved, which requires substantial software re-engineering and clinical trials to satisfy the FDA.

    --
    Error 404 - Sig Not Found