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Missouri Health Innovation Company Awarded $2.2 Million For Augmented Reality Research

  • February 16, 2018

St. Louis, Missouri-based health innovation startup, SentiAR, has been rewarded a $2.2 million federal grant to advance research on technology that can create holograms of a patient’s heart. The company has been developing the augmented reality technology with the goal of reducing operating times and improving patient outcomes.

Using the SentiAR technology, 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. This gives physicians complete, real-time, visual control of both the virtual and real worlds. The technology, which includes specially designed goggles that project the holograms of the heart, will be used in the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Heart Center cardiac electrophysiology and catheterization laboratory.

“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,” said Dr. Jennifer Silva, SentiAR’s Chief Medical Officer. “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.”

Missouri’s health innovation industry employs approximately 50,000 highly skilled individuals within more than 3,500 companies. And the state is home to the world’s first virtual care center, driven by the real-world expertise of our healthcare industry. Branded a “hospital without beds,” the Virtual Care Center provides remote support for intensive-care units, emergency rooms, physician’s offices, and even in patient’s homes.

Additionally, Missouri is home to some of the most prestigious hospitals, medical schools, and health companies in the world. 40 Missouri colleges and universities offer bachelor’s degrees or higher in biological or biomedical sciences.

For more information on Missouri’s health innovation industry check out our webpage, or contact Steve Johnson, CEO of Missouri Partnership, at 314.725.2688 or via our contact form. He will answer any questions you might have, and explain how Missouri Partnership can help with your business expansion and investment needs.

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