Multi-User Mobile Augmented Reality for Cardiovascular Surgical Planning

Collaborative planning for congenital heart diseases typically involves creating physical heart models through 3D printing, which are then examined by both surgeons and cardiologists. Recent developments in mobile augmented reality (AR) technologies have presented a viable alternative, known for their ease of use and portability. However, there is still a lack of research examining the utilization of multi-user mobile AR environments to support collaborative planning for cardiovascular surgeries. We created ARCOLLAB, an iOS AR app designed for enabling multiple surgeons and cardiologists to interact with a patient’s 3D heart model in a shared environment. ARCOLLAB enables surgeons and cardiologists to import heart models, manipulate them through gestures and collaborate with other users, eliminating the need for fabricating physical heart models. Our evaluation of ARCOL-LAB’s usability and usefulness in enhancing collaboration, conducted with three cardiothoracic surgeons and two cardiologists, marks the first human evaluation of a multi-user mobile AR tool for surgical planning. ARCOLLAB is open-source, available at https://github.com/poloclub/arcollab.