EchoComTEE – a simulator for transoesophageal echocardiography

Abstract

SummaryTransoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) requires extensive hands-on training, and it is for this purpose we have designed EchoComTEE, a simulator for TOE. It consists of a manikin and dummy probe; according to the position of the dummy probe (tracked by an electromagnetic sensor), two-dimensional (2D) images are calculated from three-dimensional (3D) data sets. Echocardiographic images are presented side-by-side with a virtual scene consisting of a 3D heart, probe tip and image plane. In this way the trainee is provided with visual feed-back of the relationship between echocardiogram and image plane position. We evaluated the simulator using a standardised questionnaire. Twenty-five experts and 31 novice users participated in the study. Most experts graded the simulator as realistic and all recommended its use for training. Most novice users felt the simulator supported spatial orientation during TOE and, as anaesthetists often do not have training in transthoracic echocardiography, in this group the TOE simulator might be particularly useful.

Panorama of Recommender Systems to Support Learning

“…The research in this field is very heterogeneous as proven by [50] in their study on 3476 research articles collected from the web of science between 2002 -2011. TEL research is widespread from web-based information systems over mobile and wearable computing [119] to large scale physical simulators that are used in medicine, military or public transport education [118] [21].…”

The Use of Computerised Simulators for Training of Transthoracic and Transoesophageal Echocardiography. The Future of Echocardiographic Training?

“…There are numerous reports describing the use of different computer simulations in transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. These range from computer based, interactive programs to actual simulators with a mannequin coupled to various transducers.…”

“…The complexity of congenital heart disease echocardiography and the need for good anatomic spatial relationships makes the use of echo simulators attractive in this area of imaging. Weidenbach also used a TOE simulator to assess expert and novice users using a standardised questionnaire [21]. For the experiences TOE operators, 82% reported it was realistic or very realistic and the majority felt that it may accelerate TOE training and prepare trainees to perform a TOE.…”

Automatized fuzzy evaluation of CT scan heart slices for creating 3D/4D heart model

“…Medical education in the 21st century is based not only on theoretical knowledge and activities with patients but also on training by using systems that simulate the process of selected examinations and operations like endoscopy [46], anesthesia [58], surgery [31,47] and ultrasonography [11,57]. Familiarization with the problems of the examination and treatment as well as the presentation of a selected disease details are the purpose of such simulations.…”

“…In the field of ultrasonography both scientific and commercial applications are available. The transesophageal echocardiography simulator with mannequin [57] as well as ultrasound simulators for cardiovascular and urological examinations [10,17,20,24,44,49,50,61] can be put as the examples. The number of reviews of quality, accessibility and usability of the mentioned simulators has been increasing continuously [9,30,45,48].…”