{"677620":{"#nid":"677620","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Heart Doctors Describe New Collaborative Planning Tool as \u2018Extremely Beneficial\u2019","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new surgery planning tool powered by augmented reality (AR) is in development for doctors who need closer collaboration when planning heart operations. Promising results from a recent usability test have moved the platform one step closer to everyday use in hospitals worldwide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers partnered with medical experts from Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) to develop and test\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/06\/georgia-tech-partners-childrens-hospital-new-heart-surgery-planning-tool\u0022\u003EARCollab\u003C\/a\u003E. The iOS-based app leverages advanced AR technologies to let doctors collaborate together and interact with a patient\u2019s 3D heart model when planning surgeries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2408.03249\u0022\u003Eusability evaluation\u003C\/a\u003E demonstrates the app\u2019s effectiveness, finding that ARCollab is easy to use and understand, fosters collaboration, and improves surgical planning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis tool is a step toward easier collaborative surgical planning. ARCollab could reduce the reliance on physical heart models, saving hours and even days of time while maintaining the collaborative nature of surgical planning,\u201d said M.S. student\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/pratham2903\/\u0022\u003EPratham Mehta\u003C\/a\u003E, the app\u2019s lead researcher.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNot only can it benefit doctors when planning for surgery, it may also serve as a teaching tool to explain heart deformities and problems to patients.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo cardiologists and three cardiothoracic surgeons from CHOA tested ARCollab. The two-day study ended with the doctors taking a 14-question survey assessing the app\u2019s usability. The survey also solicited general feedback and top features.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech group determined from the open-ended feedback that:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EARCollab enables new collaboration capabilities that are easy to use and facilitate surgical planning.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAnchoring the model to a physical space is important for better interaction.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EPortability and real-time interaction are crucial for collaborative surgical planning.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsers rated each of the 14 questions on a 7-point Likert scale, with one being \u201cstrongly disagree\u201d and seven being \u201cstrongly agree.\u201d The 14 questions were organized into five categories: overall, multi-user, model viewing, model slicing, and saving and loading models.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe multi-user category attained the highest rating with an average of 6.65. This included a unanimous 7.0 rating that it was easy to identify who was controlling the heart model in ARCollab. The scores also showed it was easy for users to connect with devices, switch between viewing and slicing, and view other users\u2019 interactions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe model slicing category received the lowest, but formidable, average of 5.5. These questions assessed ease of use and understanding of finger gestures and usefulness to toggle slice direction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBased on feedback, the researchers will explore adding support for remote collaboration. This would assist doctors in collaborating when not in a shared physical space. Another improvement is extending the save feature to support multiple states.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe surgeons and cardiologists found it extremely beneficial for multiple people to be able to view the model and collaboratively interact with it in real-time,\u201d Mehta said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe user study took place in a CHOA classroom. CHOA also provided a 3D heart model for the test using anonymous medical imaging data. Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oria.gatech.edu\/irb\u0022\u003EInstitutional Review Board (IRB)\u003C\/a\u003E approved the study and the group collected data in accordance with Institute policies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe five test participants regularly perform cardiovascular surgical procedures and are employed by CHOA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech group provided each participant with an iPad Pro with the latest iOS version and the ARCollab app installed. Using commercial devices and software meets the group\u2019s intentions to make the tool universally available and deployable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe plan to continue iterating ARCollab based on the feedback from the users,\u201d Mehta said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe participants suggested the addition of a \u2018distance collaboration\u2019 mode, enabling doctors to collaborate even if they are not in the same physical environment. This allows them to facilitate surgical planning sessions from home or otherwise.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech researchers are presenting ARCollab and the user study results at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ieeevis.org\/year\/2024\/welcome\u0022\u003EIEEE VIS 2024\u003C\/a\u003E, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) visualization conference.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIEEE VIS is the world\u2019s most prestigious conference for visualization research and the second-highest rated conference for computer graphics. It takes place virtually Oct. 13-18, moved from its venue in St. Pete Beach, Florida, due to Hurricane Milton.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe ARCollab research group\u0027s presentation at IEEE VIS comes months after they shared their work at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/research\/chi-2024\/\u0022\u003ECHI 2024\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUndergraduate student\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rahul-ozhur-narayanan-0899a8217\/\u0022\u003ERahul Narayanan\u003C\/a\u003E and alumni\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/harshakaranth.com\/\u0022\u003EHarsha Karanth\u003C\/a\u003E (M.S. CS 2024) and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/alexanderyang.me\/\u0022\u003EHaoyang (Alex) Yang\u003C\/a\u003E (CS 2022, M.S. CS 2023) co-authored the paper with Mehta. They study under\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poloclub.github.io\/\u0022\u003EPolo Chau\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech group partnered with Dr. \u003Cstrong\u003ETimothy Slesnick\u003C\/strong\u003E and Dr. \u003Cstrong\u003EFawwaz Shaw\u003C\/strong\u003E from CHOA on ARCollab\u2019s development and user testing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027m grateful for these opportunities since I get to showcase the team\u0027s hard work,\u0022 Mehta said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI can meet other like-minded researchers and students who share these interests in visualization and human-computer interaction. There is no better form of learning.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new surgery planning tool powered by augmented reality (AR) is in development for doctors in need of better collaboration when planning heart operations. Promising results from a recent usability test have moved the platform one step closer to everyday use in hospitals worldwide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers partnered with medical experts from Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) to develop and test\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/06\/georgia-tech-partners-childrens-hospital-new-heart-surgery-planning-tool\u0022\u003EARCollab\u003C\/a\u003E. The iOS-based app leverages advanced AR technologies to let doctors collaborate together and interact with a patient\u2019s 3D heart model when planning surgeries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2408.03249\u0022\u003Eusability evaluation\u003C\/a\u003E demonstrates the app\u2019s effectiveness, finding that ARCollab is easy to use and understand, fosters collaboration, and improves surgical planning.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A usability evaluation of ARCollab demonstrated the app\u2019s effectiveness, finding it easy to use and understand, fosters collaboration, and improves heart surgery planning."}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2024-10-16 14:12:35","changed_gmt":"2024-10-16 15:16:02","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675333":{"id":"675333","type":"image","title":"ARCollab Head Image.jpg","body":null,"created":"1729087961","gmt_created":"2024-10-16 14:12:41","changed":"1729087961","gmt_changed":"2024-10-16 14:12:41","alt":"ARCollab Usability Evaluation","file":{"fid":"258944","name":"ARCollab Head Image.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/16\/ARCollab%20Head%20Image.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/16\/ARCollab%20Head%20Image.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":167048,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/16\/ARCollab%20Head%20Image.jpg?itok=nA2bDcOj"}},"675334":{"id":"675334","type":"image","title":"PM at CHI.png","body":null,"created":"1729087994","gmt_created":"2024-10-16 14:13:14","changed":"1729087994","gmt_changed":"2024-10-16 14:13:14","alt":"Pratham Mehta at CHI 2024","file":{"fid":"258945","name":"PM at CHI.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/16\/PM%20at%20CHI.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/16\/PM%20at%20CHI.png","mime":"image\/png","size":407347,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/16\/PM%20at%20CHI.png?itok=NmqqLc3T"}},"675335":{"id":"675335","type":"image","title":"VIS Graphic.jpeg","body":null,"created":"1729088018","gmt_created":"2024-10-16 14:13:38","changed":"1729088018","gmt_changed":"2024-10-16 14:13:38","alt":"Georgia Tech @ VIS 2024","file":{"fid":"258946","name":"VIS Graphic.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/16\/VIS%20Graphic.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/16\/VIS%20Graphic.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":125923,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/16\/VIS%20Graphic.jpeg?itok=fBVRzr59"}}},"media_ids":["675333","675334","675335"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/heart-doctors-describe-new-collaborative-planning-tool-extremely-beneficial","title":"Heart Doctors Describe New Collaborative Planning Tool as \u2018Extremely Beneficial\u2019"}],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"166983","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"2556","name":"artificial intelligence"},{"id":"9167","name":"machine learning"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}