List of Tables
vii
1.1 Comparison of VR Solutions for Cardiology Training 16
viii
List of Acronyms
AR :
Augmented Reality 11, 22, 23,
CABG :
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting 7, 9, 18, 32,
CAD:
Coronary Artery Disease 4-6,
CardioTrain :
A platform that supports practical training in the treatment
of coronary obstructions iv, 26-28,
CVDs :
Cardiovascular diseases 4,
MR :
Mixed Reality 11,
NSTEMI :
Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction 6,
PCI :
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention 6, 7, 18, 32,
STEMI:
ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction 6,
UML :
Unified Modeling Language 19,
VR :
Virtual Reality iv, vii, 4, 12-17, 19, 20, 22-25, 32, 39,
ix
Glossary
AR : Immersive technology which overlays digital content onto
the
real-world environment. viii
CABG : also known as coronary bypass surgery, it's a surgical
procedure
that restores normal blood flow to the heart by creating new
pathways around narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. viii
CAD: common type of heart disease which affects the main
blood ves-
sels that supply blood to the heart, called the coronary
arteries. viii
CardioTrain : This is the name of our
virtual reality software that supports practical training in the treatment of
coronary obstructions. viii
CVDs : are a group of disorders of the heart and blood
vessels and in-
clude coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease,
rheumatic heart disease and other conditions. viii
MR : Immersive technology which combines
real and virtual environ-
ments with real-time interaction between physical and digital
objects.. viii
NSTEMI : It's a type of heart attack where a
coronary artery is partially
blocked, reducing but not completely cutting off the blood
supply to part of the heart muscle. viii
STEMI: It's a severe type of heart attack where a major
coronary artery
is completely blocked, cutting off blood supply to a
significant portion of the heart muscle. viii
UML : It is a pictogram-based graphical modelling language
designed
as a standardised method of visualisation in the fields of
software development and object-oriented design. viii
Glossary Glossary
1
VR : Immersive technology with a fully immersive
environments where users are completely cut off from the physical world.
viii
2
General introduction
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death
globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year [10], particularly
in developing countries. Among them, coronary artery disease, caused by
coronary artery obstruction, represents a critical pathology that requires
rapid and precise management. While cardiology education in medical training
programs, including in Benin, provides students with solid knowledge, their
first hands-on interventions often occur directly on human patients, a
situation likely to generate stress and uncertainty during initial clinical
procedures. To mitigate these challenges and provide a safer, more controlled
learning environment, immersive technologies such as virtual reality have
emerged as a promising solution. By recreating complex clinical environments in
a safe, interactive, and reproducible way, virtual reality offers an ideal
framework for progressive skill acquisition. This is the background to our
project: to develop a virtual reality training tool dedicated to the
acquisition of skills linked to the treatment of coronary obstructions.
Problem statement
The progressive acquisition of initial practical skills in
cardiology, including in contexts such as Benin, represents a key stage before
students perform their first real interventions on patients. In this context,
immersive technologies offer promising opportunities to enrich this stage,
which raises the following central question: how can an immersive virtual
reality application be designed to effectively support the progressive
development of cardiology students' practical competencies, particularly in the
treatment of coronary artery disease?
Objectives
The general objective of this thesis is to develop an
immersive virtual reality application designed to train healthcare
professionals in the management of cardiovascular diseases, in particular
coronary artery obstructions. The specific objectives of this thesis are:
· Provide an interactive environment for learning cardiac
anatomy and medical procedures;
· Reinforce clinical skills through simulations based on
real cases;
· Support medical decision-making between procedures such
as coronary artery bypass grafting
Glossary Glossary
3
and revascularisation;
· Design a scalable software architecture that will
enable the application to be extended to other medical specialities.
Methodology (briefly)
The methodology adopted combines theoretical research into
cardiovascular disease and immersive technologies, with agile development of
the application. It comprises the following stages:
· Documentary analysis and collection of pedagogical
needs;
· Design of models and 3D modelling of anatomical
elements;
· Integration into a virtual reality engine (Unity);
· Programming of interactions and clinical scenarios;
· Testing and adjustments
Structure of the document
This thesis is structured around three main chapters.
The first chapter lays the theoretical foundations for our
study. It presents the medical context of coronary artery disease and the
issues involved in training cardiology students to manage it. It also provides
a critical analysis of existing solutions, highlighting their advantages and
limitations.
The second chapter is devoted to the design of the system
developed. It describes the technical choices made and uses UML modeling to
illustrate the main interactions through use case and sequence diagrams. The
use of tools such as Unity and Blender is also justified, in view of the
project's educational and immersive objectives.
Finally, the third chapter outlines the results obtained from
implementing the system, while highlighting the difficulties encountered. It
concludes with an outlook on possible improvements and future developments for
the project.
4
Chapter1
State of Art
