Computer assisted surgical planning for coronary artery bypass grafting

Surgical reconstruction of blocked arteries began in the late 1960s and has proved to be remarkably successful. The coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) operation is the foundation of surgical management. The goal of this operation is to restore the blood supply to the heart muscle by creating a new route for the blood to flow around the blockages. CABG is the most common operation performed on the human heart. Current surgical planning is very dependent on the expertise of the surgeon and uses only a limited amount of information obtained from sectional images. Therefore, the accurate position of the occluded region and the length of the vessel to be transplanted need to be known before CABG in order to reduce the time required for surgery and the risk. Our research aims at interactive surgical planning for CABG based on a hybrid cardiac model composed of ventricles, atria, and coronary artery. Using the proposed model, the position of the occluded or narrowed portion of the coronary artery can be found easily and the site of the transplant can be planned interactively. Moreover, an accurate quantitative estimate of the length and thickness of the vessel to be transplanted can be provided.