Visit of Prof. Terry Peters, PhD

We are happy to announce the invited talk of Prof. Peters in the course of the 12th Korea-Germany Workshop on Advanced Medical Image Processing.

Prof. Terry Peters, PhD Scientist, Robarts Research Institute Professor, Medical Imaging, Medical Biophysics University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

Invited talk at the 12th Korea-Germany Workshop on Advanced Medical Image Processing.

• Date: Monday, 14 September 2009
• Time: 14:00
• Location: on-Hörsaal at Klinikum rechts der Isar

Abstract: Minimally invasive beating heart intracardiac surgery is an area of research with many unique challenges. Surgical targets are in constant motion in a blood-filled environment that prevents direct line-of- sight guidance. The restrictive workspace requires compact, yet robust tools for proper therapy delivery. Our novel method for approaching multiple targets inside the beating heart allows their identification and access under augmented reality-assisted image guidance. The surgical platform integrates real-time ultrasound imaging with virtual models of the surgical instruments, along with virtual cardiac anatomy acquired from preoperative images. Extensive in vitro studies were performed to assess the operators ability to “deliver therapy” to dynamic intracardiac targets via both transmural and transluminal access, and demonstrated significantly more accurate targeting under augmented reality guidance compared to ultrasound image guidance alone, accompanied by a reduction of procedure time by half. Moreover, preliminary in vivo acute studies on porcine models showed successful prosthesis positioning for beating heart septal defect repair and mitral valve implantation via direct surgical access. While still in its infancy, this work emphasizes the promise of ultrasound-enhanced model-guided environments for minimally-invasive cardiac therapy, whether delivered via a catheter introduced into the vascular system or a cannula inserted through the heart wall.

Biography: Dr. Terry Peters is a Scientist in the Imaging Research Laboratories at the Robarts Research Institute (RRI), London, ON, Canada, and Professor in the Departments of Medical Imaging and Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario, as well as a member of the Graduate Programs in Neurosciences and Biomedical Engineering. He is also an adjunct Professor at McGill^? University in Montreal. Dr. Peters received his graduate training at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand in Electrical Engineering, under the direction of Professor Richard Bates. His PhD^? work dealt with fundamental issues in Computed Tomography image reconstruction, and resulted in a seminal paper on the topic in 1971, just prior to the beginning of CT’s commercial development and worldwide application. For the past 30 years, his research has built on this foundation, focusing on the application of computational hardware and software advances to medical imaging modalities in surgery and therapy. Starting in 1978 at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Dr. Peters’ lab pioneered many of the image-guidance techniques and applications that are used for the surgical treatment of epilepsy and Parkinson’s Disease. In 1997, Dr. Peters was recruited by the Robarts Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario, London Canada, to establish a focus of image-guided surgery and therapy within the Robarts Imaging Research Laboratories. His lab has expanded over the past twelve years to encompass image-guided procedures of the heart, brain and abdomen.

Dr. Peters has authored over 180 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, a similar number of abstracts, and he has delivered over 130 invited presentations. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine; the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine; and the Institute of Physics. He is an executive member of the board of the MICCAI society, as well as its treasurer. He has mentored over 70 trainees at the Masters, Doctoral and Postdoctoral levels.

For the past 20 years he has been funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research; the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the National Centres of Excellence Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and the Ontario Research Fund, with grants totalling over $25M.