SentiAR has secured a research grant from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) to advance its work to revolutionize the operating room with AR software designed to improve visualization in cardiac surgeries and other interventional procedures.
SentiAR will receive $2.2m of non-dilutive milestone installments to advance its platform.
Using the SentiAR technology, through the Microsoft head-up display, physicians can view, measure, and manipulate real-time holographic images of the patient’s heart during medical procedures – while still being able to clearly see the operating room environment – giving physicians complete, real-time, visual control of both the virtual and real worlds, aimed at reducing operating time and radiation exposure to clinicians, and potentially improving outcomes for patients. In-human engineering testing began in Summer, 2017.
SentiAR chief medical officer Dr. Jennifer Silva said: “Our goal is to provide physicians who perform cardiac ablation procedures with a patient-specific hologram of the heart and the instruments that they are using inside of it.
“By improving the visualization of this information and empowering the physician with direct control of the model, we will make these procedures both simpler and safer. Knowing that our peers – cardiologists and engineers – see the value of our solution and the potential impact it will have for both patients and practitioners is tremendous validation for SentiAR’s model.”
BioGenerator, the lead investor in St. Louis-based SentiAR, says the technology developed at Washington University in St. Louis is further evidence of the world-class clinical medical applications coming out of the university and St. Louis ecosystem.
“The coaching and investments from BioGenerator have helped the talented team at SentiAR claim the lead in bringing augmented reality into a clinical application,” Harry Arader, BioGenerator Director of Entrepreneur Development, said.
“While a lot of people are working with AR in training applications, SentiAR’s models are ready for real patients in real time. The company is targeting FDA submission later this year.”
The grant-funded project period is now underway, supervised by Principal Investigator Walter Blume and supported by SentiAR Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Silva, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Jonathan Silva, Lead Developer Mike Southworth, and Chief Executive Officer Jim Howard.
SentiAR is a healthcare technology company based in St. Louis, MO, developing a 3D visualization platform for interventional procedures through a head-up display.
Using real-time navigation data feeds rather than MRI/CT, the SentiAR intraprocedural solution provides clinicians with patient-specific anatomy in a holographic display, including catheter movement, in full control of the proceduralist.