To determine a child's care, a team of doctors composed of cardiopediatricians and cardiac surgeons meets weekly to review the medical records we receive.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, our teams encountered difficulties in obtaining complete medical records containing all the examinations necessary for decision-making. This is why Prof. Francine Leca, founder of the Association, wanted to improve this part of the child's journey by using technology in the service of medicine. Thus was born the first project of the Smart Projects program, based on 3D modeling, in collaboration with the start-up Visible Patient.
3 questions about the 3D modeling project:
1. What is the collaboration with Visible Patient?
Visible Patient is the first online laboratory for 3D modeling of medical images. From a scanner, they manage to transform the image into a perfect 3D visualization of the patient's internal anatomy.
2. How does Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque use this technology?
With the help of a CT scan of the child performed in his country, and its 3D modeling, doctors in France are able to make an accurate and precise diagnosis of the heart disease.
3. What are the advantages of 3D modeling?
- Confirm a diagnosis and precise cardiac anatomy
- Precisely plan the surgical procedure to be performed when possible
- To teach, by exchanging with foreign doctors on concrete cases.
The case of APSO
Each year, the association takes care of approximately 75 children (25%) suffering from complex heart diseases. Among these rare and serious cardiopathies: APSO (Open Septum Pulmonary Atresia). To successfully operate on this malformation, it is essential to first assess the patient's pulmonary tree. Until now, only angiography performed during a cardiac catheterization allowed to answer this question, an examination to which the children we take care of do not have access in their country. Today, with the support of a good CT scan, 3D reconstruction provides us with essential information on the morphology of the pulmonary vascularization.
To begin with, we naturally chose to focus the 3D modeling on patients with APSO and this has paid off: we accepted the files of patients whose pulmonary branches were sufficiently developed, thus allowing management, and we avoided bringing in unnecessarily those for whom the cardiac anatomy did not allow for a surgical procedure.
What's next?
As 3D modeling is performed using a scanner, we are currently working with 13 countries equipped with the right material. We hope to be able to allow the greatest number of children to benefit from this technology.
