3D Technology : Boosting Patient & Physician Understanding

The increasing use of minimally invasive therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular disease required more precise information to provide the right therapeutic solution. This all involved imaging – CT or MRI. The problem for physicians was how to translate this 2D data into something that patients could understand and would help physicians make the correct patient decision.

“We draw diagrams on paper for our patients, we show them pictures  or CT scans but sometimes all we get is an empty look back when explaining to them their condition,” said Dr. Katzen. “We needed a way to get our patients to understand what the problem is and why they need to be treated.”

“As physicians, we are used to looking at CTs and extrapolating the three-dimensional information in our heads and make them ‘virtual’ in order to decide on the best treatment”, said Dr. Katzen. But, is this way the best way to get the most information for successful minimally invasive therapy?

“I was looking for a way to take all the information in the patient’s CT scans and put them in a computer to generate a 3D model that anyone could understand – both patients and physicians. This model would be very detailed and patient specific showing us the information we needed.”