Experts will unveil a new 3D-printed model of the heart at EuroEcho-Imaging 2014, the official European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) annual meeting that is set to take place at the Reed Messe Wien GmbH congress centre, Vienna, Austria during 3-6 December.
The main objective of this congress is to explore the latest advancements in 3D imaging via presentations. Scientists will be demonstrating the new frontiers in cardiovascular imaging using a 3D-printed heart structure.
The ability to print a 3D structure of the heart will enable the clinicians to select the device of suitable size and procedure to perform surgical and percutaneous interventions on the aortic and mitral valve based on the patient’s anatomy.
Another key feature of 3D imaging technology is to create a 3D computational model of the heart that assists clinicians with interventions and provide an insight on the physiology of heart. As a result, it is possible to gain in-depth knowledge on the interactions the valves and the left atrium, the valves and the aorta and the valves and the ventricles.
Imaging techniques such as stress imaging has become a primary method of diagnosing unstable cardiovascular disease like myocardial ischaemia in acute cardiac care. Cardiac oncology is another field that will be reported in the congress along with the suggestions to monitor cardiotoxicity after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This field deals with the methods of detecting and preventing the effects of cancer drugs on heart
Imaging plays a critical role in diagnosing cardiac diseases in cancer survivors. The ESC/EACVI’s Cardiac Oncology Toxicity Registry, launched in September helps in gathering data on methods for treating the cardiotoxicity of breast cancer drugs. The developments will be presented at EuroEcho-Imaging congress. The congress will be attended by over 3300 healthcare professionals from more than 90 countries. Several sister societies worldwide will also conduct joint sessions, emphasizing the scope of the congress.
During the meeting, over 1320 abstracts on groundbreaking research will be released. In addition, oral abstracts that enable the audience to interact with experts and journalists to understand a particular field of research, will be presented.
The heart is a 3D structure that we traditionally analysed using 2D imaging including echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) or cardiac computed tomography (CT). But with the advent of 3D imaging, now we can clearly evaluate the structure of the heart in different planes.
EACVI President, Professor Patrizio Lancellott
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