ST. LOUIS – A panel of cardiologists, engineers, and other experts have given SentiAR, Inc.’s augmented reality (AR) platform an exceptional peer review, leading the National Institutes for Health (NIH) to award SentiAR a prestigious research grant 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 $2.2 million 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.
“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,” Dr. Jennifer Silva, SentiAR Chief Medical Officer, said. “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, and Chief Executive Officer Jim Howard.
“SentiAR’s technology stands to impact nearly one-million arrhythmia patients every year,” Howard said. “SentiAR is tackling the significant intraprocedural visualization challenges of today, but our vision to provide robust intelligence of the case and behaviors beyond the procedure truly will alter the way medicine is practiced.”
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