When Brevin Cronk found himself in an emergency room last December, his blood-oxygen level was 77% and his lips had turned blue. It was soon determined by the team at UW Medical Center in Seattle that a transcatheter repair was necessary—and virtual reality (VR) played a key role in Cronk’s care.
Cronk, 21, was born with congenital heart abnormalities and has undergone numerous heart procedures over the years. When Zachary Steinberg, MD, a cardiologist from the UW Medicine Heart Institute, looked over Cronk’s case, he saw that his heart was “working furiously” and needed some quick relief.
“A layer of reconstructed heart vessel had torn away, creating a partial blockage, obstructing blow flow from the right ventricle to the lungs,” Steinberg said in an interview with UW Medicine’s newsroom. “That, in turn, built up pressure inside his heart and opened a hole in the surgically created wall separating the left and right ventricles.”
Cronk’s prior procedures made the diagnosis and treatment more challenging than normal, but Steinberg was finally able to see that a transcatheter repair was the smartest option. That’s where VR entered the equation, as Steinberg was able to enlarge the heart, get a closer look at the ongoing blockage and plan the route he would take during the actual procedure.
“When you’re implanting devices with a catheter, you don’t want to fix one problem only to create another,” he said. “The VR perspective gave us landmarks and confidence that our approach was going to work,” he said.
Once the successful procedure was complete, Cronk was able to get back to his everyday life. And, he adds, he’s amazed that VR played such an important part in his care
“My mind was blown,” Cronk said “It was super cool that they were able to walk around my heart … and look up and identify the problem.”
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.