Minimising Airborne Infections in NHS Surgical Theatres via Real-time Flow Simulation and Virtual Reality Visualisation
Supervisor: Dr Tao Zhang
Industry Partner: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
School: Engineering
Description:
Background:
Airborne contamination is a major contributor to surgical site infections. Bacteria are commonly transported by airborne particles at surgical sites and can be easily deposited into open wounds or onto sterile instruments, causing catastrophic consequences, e.g. prosthesis failure and neurological complications.
To mitigate airborne contamination, Unidirectional Airflow systems (UDAF,Fig1) are widely used in current operating theatres. These are designed to continuously sweep contaminants away from critical areas, minimising turbulence/entrainment.
However, our preliminary study with NHS(Fig2) found the presence of equipment and surgical staff significantly disrupts the UDAF flow. These can substantially excite airborne bacteria-carrying particles(Fig2), contributing to still frequent occurrence of airborne surgical site infections.
This project advances our preliminary studies: we aim to combine real-time flow modelling with immersive Virtual-Reality(VR) visualisation, enabling surgical staff to actually see airborne contaminations, thereby exploring new theatre designs and surgical procedures minimising infections.
Methodologies, workplans, and outcomes:
This study has three parts: (1)real-time aerodynamic modelling, (2)immersive visualisation, and (3) infection minimisation.
The first part(weeks 1-6) will adapt a novel GPU-accelerated Lattice Boltzmann flow solver developed in our CFD Lab(www.gla.ac.uk/cfd). This tool offers faster-than-real-time aerodynamic modelling on modern GPUs. The study will first explore modelling strategies(weeks 1-3) for surgical site flows, which also allows training time for the student. An accuracy/efficiency-balanced modelling strategy will be derived(outcome1).
The second part(weeks 3-8) will link the modelling with immersive visualisation. This will leverage the visual system of our Daedalus-I flight simulator, originally developed for high-fidelity pilot training. The work will explore the interfacing with existing VR prototypes(Fig3), establishing a unique toolchain for environmental flow problems(outcome 2).
The third part (weeks 5-10) will explore how new surgical procedures/room designs can minimise airborne infections. This will work closely with NHS partners to derive practical guidelines(outcome3).
Partners:
This study collaborates with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde building on current research partnership. The NHS team will provide realistic operating theatre parameters together with relevant clinical training/guidelines. The student will engage in regular communication with the team to present new findings and gather feedback. This multi-disciplinary collaboration provides the ideal environment for a young student experience impactiful, real-world-relevant research.
