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Straughan R, Kadry K, Parikh SA, Edelman ER, Nezami FR. Fully Automated Construction of Three-dimensional Finite Element Simulations from Optical Coherence Tomography. ARXIV 2024:arXiv:2405.13643v1. [PMID: 38827462 PMCID: PMC11142312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Despite recent advances in diagnosis and treatment, atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases remain a leading cause of death worldwide. Various imaging modalities and metrics can detect lesions and predict patients at risk; however, identifying unstable lesions is still difficult. Current techniques cannot fully capture the complex morphology-modulated mechanical responses that affect plaque stability, leading to catastrophic failure and mute the benefit of device and drug interventions. Finite Element (FE) simulations utilizing intravascular imaging OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) are effective in defining physiological stress distributions. However, creating 3D FE simulations of coronary arteries from OCT images is challenging to fully automate given OCT frame sparsity, limited material contrast, and restricted penetration depth. To address such limitations, we developed an algorithmic approach to automatically produce 3D FE-ready digital twins from labeled OCT images. The 3D models are anatomically faithful and recapitulate mechanically relevant tissue lesion components, automatically producing morphologies structurally similar to manually constructed models whilst including more minute details. A mesh convergence study highlighted the ability to reach stress and strain convergence with average errors of just 5.9% and 1.6% respectively in comparison to FE models with approximately twice the number of elements in areas of refinement. Such an automated procedure will enable analysis of large clinical cohorts at a previously unattainable scale and opens the possibility for in-silico methods for patient specific diagnoses and treatment planning for coronary artery disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ross Straughan
- Cardiac Surgery Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA
- Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Leonhardstrasse 21, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Karim Kadry
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA
| | - Sahil A. Parikh
- Cardiovascular Division, Division of Cardiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, 10032, NY, USA
| | - Elazer R. Edelman
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA
- Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA
| | - Farhad R. Nezami
- Cardiac Surgery Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA
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2
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Zhang X, Nan N, Tong X, Chen H, Zhang X, Li S, Zhang M, Gao B, Wang X, Song X, Chen D. Validation of biomechanical assessment of coronary plaque vulnerability based on intravascular optical coherence tomography and digital subtraction angiography. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2024; 14:1477-1492. [PMID: 38415169 PMCID: PMC10895097 DOI: 10.21037/qims-23-1094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Background It has been suggested that biomechanical factors may influence plaque development. However, key determinants for assessing plaque vulnerability remain speculative. Methods In this study, a two-dimensional (2D) structural mechanical analysis and a three-dimensional (3D) fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis were conducted based on intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) data sets. In the 2D study, 103 IV-OCT slices were analyzed. An in-depth morpho-mechanic analysis and a weighted least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis were conducted to identify the crucial features related to plaque vulnerability via the tuning parameter (λ). In the 3D study, the coronary model was reconstructed by fusing the IV-OCT and DSA data, and a FSI analysis was subsequently performed. The relationship between vulnerable plaque and wall shear stress (WSS) was investigated. Results The influential factors were selected using the minimum criteria (λ-min) and one-standard error criteria (λ-1se). In addition to the common vulnerable factor of the minimum fibrous cap thickness (FCTmin), four biomechanical factors were selected by λ-min, including the average/maximal displacements and average/maximal stress, and two biomechanical factors were selected by λ-1se, including the average/maximal displacements. Additionally, the positions of the vulnerable plaques were consistent with the sites of high WSS. Conclusions Functional indices are crucial for plaque status assessment. An evaluation based on biomechanical simulations might provide insights into risk identification and guide therapeutic decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuehuan Zhang
- School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Nan
- Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Cardiovascular Wisdom Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing, China
| | - Xinyu Tong
- School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Huyang Chen
- School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Xuyang Zhang
- School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Shilong Li
- School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Mingduo Zhang
- Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Cardiovascular Wisdom Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing, China
| | - Bingyu Gao
- Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Cardiovascular Wisdom Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing, China
| | - Xifu Wang
- Department of Emergency, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiantao Song
- Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Cardiovascular Wisdom Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing, China
| | - Duanduan Chen
- School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
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Straughan R, Kadry K, Parikh SA, Edelman ER, Nezami FR. Fully automated construction of three-dimensional finite element simulations from Optical Coherence Tomography. Comput Biol Med 2023; 165:107341. [PMID: 37611423 PMCID: PMC10528179 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2023.107341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Revised: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
Despite recent advances in diagnosis and treatment, atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases remain a leading cause of death worldwide. Various imaging modalities and metrics can detect lesions and predict patients at risk; however, identifying unstable lesions is still difficult. Current techniques cannot fully capture the complex morphology-modulated mechanical responses that affect plaque stability, leading to catastrophic failure and mute the benefit of device and drug interventions. Finite Element (FE) simulations utilizing intravascular imaging OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) are effective in defining physiological stress distributions. However, creating 3D FE simulations of coronary arteries from OCT images is challenging to fully automate given OCT frame sparsity, limited material contrast, and restricted penetration depth. To address such limitations, we developed an algorithmic approach to automatically produce 3D FE-ready digital twins from labeled OCT images. The 3D models are anatomically faithful and recapitulate mechanically relevant tissue lesion components, automatically producing morphologies structurally similar to manually constructed models whilst including more minute details. A mesh convergence study highlighted the ability to reach stress and strain convergence with average errors of just 5.9% and 1.6% respectively in comparison to FE models with approximately twice the number of elements in areas of refinement. Such an automated procedure will enable analysis of large clinical cohorts at a previously unattainable scale and opens the possibility for in-silico methods for patient specific diagnoses and treatment planning for coronary artery disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ross Straughan
- Cardiac Surgery Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA; Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Leonhardstrasse 21, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Karim Kadry
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.
| | - Sahil A Parikh
- Division of Cardiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, 10032, NY, USA.
| | - Elazer R Edelman
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA; Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
| | - Farhad R Nezami
- Cardiac Surgery Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
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Ghorbannia A, LaDisa JF. Intravascular imaging of angioplasty balloon under-expansion during pre-dilation predicts hyperelastic behavior of coronary artery lesions. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1192797. [PMID: 37284239 PMCID: PMC10240066 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1192797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Stent-induced mechanical stimuli cause pathophysiological responses in the coronary artery post-treatment. These stimuli can be minimized through choice of stent, size, and deployment strategy. However, the lack of target lesion material characterization is a barrier to further personalizing treatment. A novel ex-vivo angioplasty-based intravascular imaging technique using optical coherence tomography (OCT) was developed to characterize local stiffness of the target lesion. Methods: After proper institutional oversight, atherosclerotic coronary arteries (n = 9) were dissected from human donor hearts for ex vivo material characterization <48 h post-mortem. Morphology was imaged at the diastolic blood pressure using common intravascular OCT protocols and at subsequent pressures using a specially fabricated perfusion balloon that accommodates the OCT imaging wire. Balloon under-expansion was quantified relative to the nominal balloon size at 8 ATM. Correlation to a constitutive hyperelastic model was empirically investigated (n = 13 plaques) using biaxial extension results fit to a mixed Neo-Hookean and Exponential constitutive model. Results and discussion: The average circumferential Cauchy stress was 66.5, 130.2, and 300.4 kPa for regions with <15, 15-30, and >30% balloon under-expansion at a 1.15 stretch ratio. Similarly, the average longitudinal Cauchy stress was 68.1, 172.6, and 412.7 kPa, respectively. Consequently, strong correlation coefficients >0.89 were observed between balloon under-expansion and stress-like constitutive parameters. These parameters allowed for visualization of stiffness and material heterogeneity for a range of atherosclerotic plaques. Balloon under-expansion is a strong predictor of target lesion stiffness. These findings are promising as stent deployment could now be further personalized via target lesion material characterization obtained pre-operatively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arash Ghorbannia
- Section of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Herma Heart Institute, Children’s Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University and The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - John F. LaDisa
- Section of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Herma Heart Institute, Children’s Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University and The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Department of Physiology, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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Warren JL, Yoo JE, Meyer CA, Molony DS, Samady H, Hayenga HN. Automated finite element approach to generate anatomical patient-specific biomechanical models of atherosclerotic arteries from virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound. FRONTIERS IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY 2022; 4:1008540. [PMID: 36523426 PMCID: PMC9745200 DOI: 10.3389/fmedt.2022.1008540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite advancements in early detection and treatment, atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of death across all cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Biomechanical analysis of atherosclerotic lesions has the potential to reveal biomechanically instable or rupture-prone regions. Treatment decisions rarely consider the biomechanics of the stenosed lesion due in-part to difficulties in obtaining this information in a clinical setting. Previous 3D FEA approaches have incompletely incorporated the complex curvature of arterial geometry, material heterogeneity, and use of patient-specific data. To address these limitations and clinical need, herein we present a user-friendly fully automated program to reconstruct and simulate the wall mechanics of patient-specific atherosclerotic coronary arteries. The program enables 3D reconstruction from patient-specific data with heterogenous tissue assignment and complex arterial curvature. Eleven arteries with coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent baseline and 6-month follow-up angiographic and virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS) imaging. VH-IVUS images were processed to remove background noise, extract VH plaque material data, and luminal and outer contours. Angiography data was used to orient the artery profiles along the 3D centerlines. The resulting surface mesh is then resampled for uniformity and tetrahedralized to generate the volumetric mesh using TetGen. A mesh convergence study revealed edge lengths between 0.04 mm and 0.2 mm produced constituent volumes that were largely unchanged, hence, to save computational resources, a value of 0.2 mm was used throughout. Materials are assigned and finite element analysis (FEA) is then performed to determine stresses and strains across the artery wall. In a representative artery, the highest average effective stress was in calcium elements with 235 kPa while necrotic elements had the lowest average stress, reaching as low as 0.79 kPa. After applying nodal smoothening, the maximum effective stress across 11 arteries remained below 288 kPa, implying biomechanically stable plaques. Indeed, all atherosclerotic plaques remained unruptured at the 6-month longitudinal follow up diagnosis. These results suggest our automated analysis may facilitate assessment of atherosclerotic plaque stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy L. Warren
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
| | - John E. Yoo
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
| | - Clark A. Meyer
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
| | - David S. Molony
- Northeast Georgia Health System, Georgia Heart Institute, Gainesville, GA, United States
| | - Habib Samady
- Northeast Georgia Health System, Georgia Heart Institute, Gainesville, GA, United States
| | - Heather N. Hayenga
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
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The Need to Shift from Morphological to Structural Assessment for Carotid Plaque Vulnerability. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10123038. [PMID: 36551791 PMCID: PMC9776071 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10123038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Degree of luminal stenosis is generally considered to be an important indicator for judging the risk of atherosclerosis burden. However, patients with the same or similar degree of stenosis may have significant differences in plaque morphology and biomechanical factors. This study investigated three patients with carotid atherosclerosis within a similar range of stenosis. Using our developed fluid-structure interaction (FSI) modelling method, this study analyzed and compared the morphological and biomechanical parameters of the three patients. Although their degrees of carotid stenosis were similar, the plaque components showed a significant difference. The distribution range of time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS) of patient 2 was wider than that of patient 1 and patient 3. Patient 2 also had a much smaller plaque stress compared to the other two patients. There were significant differences in TAWSS and plaque stresses among three patients. This study suggests that plaque vulnerability is not determined by a single morphological factor, but rather by the combined structure. It is necessary to transform the morphological assessment into a structural assessment of the risk of plaque rupture.
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Karmakar A, Olender ML, Marlevi D, Shlofmitz E, Shlofmitz RA, Edelman ER, Nezami FR. Framework for lumen-based nonrigid tomographic coregistration of intravascular images. J Med Imaging (Bellingham) 2022; 9:044006. [PMID: 36043032 PMCID: PMC9402451 DOI: 10.1117/1.jmi.9.4.044006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 08/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose: Modern medical imaging enables clinicians to effectively diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases. However, clinical decision-making often relies on combined evaluation of either longitudinal or disparate image sets, necessitating coregistration of multiple acquisitions. Promising coregistration techniques have been proposed; however, available methods predominantly rely on time-consuming manual alignments or nontrivial feature extraction with limited clinical applicability. Addressing these issues, we present a fully automated, robust, nonrigid registration method, allowing for coregistering of multimodal tomographic vascular image datasets using luminal annotation as the sole alignment feature. Approach: Registration is carried out by the use of the registration metrics defined exclusively for lumens shapes. The framework is primarily broken down into two sequential parts: longitudinal and rotational registration. Both techniques are inherently nonrigid in nature to compensate for motion and acquisition artifacts in tomographic images. Results: Performance was evaluated across multimodal intravascular datasets, as well as in longitudinal cases assessing pre-/postinterventional coronary images. Low registration error in both datasets highlights method utility, with longitudinal registration errors-evaluated throughout the paired tomographic sequences-of 0.29 ± 0.14 mm ( < 2 longitudinal image frames) and 0.18 ± 0.16 mm ( < 1 frame) for multimodal and interventional datasets, respectively. Angular registration for the interventional dataset rendered errors of 7.7 ° ± 6.7 ° , and 29.1 ° ± 23.2 ° for the multimodal set. Conclusions: Satisfactory results across datasets, along with additional attributes such as the ability to avoid longitudinal over-fitting and correct nonlinear catheter rotation during nonrigid rotational registration, highlight the potential wide-ranging applicability of our presented coregistration method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Karmakar
- Cornell University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ithaca, New York, United States
| | - Max L. Olender
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
| | - David Marlevi
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Evan Shlofmitz
- St. Francis Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Roslyn, New York, United States
| | | | - Elazer R. Edelman
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Farhad R. Nezami
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Carpenter HJ, Ghayesh MH, Zander AC, Li J, Di Giovanni G, Psaltis PJ. Automated Coronary Optical Coherence Tomography Feature Extraction with Application to Three-Dimensional Reconstruction. Tomography 2022; 8:1307-1349. [PMID: 35645394 PMCID: PMC9149962 DOI: 10.3390/tomography8030108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Revised: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronary optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an intravascular, near-infrared light-based imaging modality capable of reaching axial resolutions of 10–20 µm. This resolution allows for accurate determination of high-risk plaque features, such as thin cap fibroatheroma; however, visualization of morphological features alone still provides unreliable positive predictive capability for plaque progression or future major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Biomechanical simulation could assist in this prediction, but this requires extracting morphological features from intravascular imaging to construct accurate three-dimensional (3D) simulations of patients’ arteries. Extracting these features is a laborious process, often carried out manually by trained experts. To address this challenge, numerous techniques have emerged to automate these processes while simultaneously overcoming difficulties associated with OCT imaging, such as its limited penetration depth. This systematic review summarizes advances in automated segmentation techniques from the past five years (2016–2021) with a focus on their application to the 3D reconstruction of vessels and their subsequent simulation. We discuss four categories based on the feature being processed, namely: coronary lumen; artery layers; plaque characteristics and subtypes; and stents. Areas for future innovation are also discussed as well as their potential for future translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harry J. Carpenter
- School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia;
- Correspondence: (H.J.C.); (M.H.G.)
| | - Mergen H. Ghayesh
- School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia;
- Correspondence: (H.J.C.); (M.H.G.)
| | - Anthony C. Zander
- School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia;
| | - Jiawen Li
- School of Electrical Electronic Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia;
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Giuseppe Di Giovanni
- Vascular Research Centre, Lifelong Health Theme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; (G.D.G.); (P.J.P.)
| | - Peter J. Psaltis
- Vascular Research Centre, Lifelong Health Theme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; (G.D.G.); (P.J.P.)
- Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
- Department of Cardiology, Central Adelaide Local Health Network, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
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He Y, Northrup H, Le H, Cheung AK, Berceli SA, Shiu YT. Medical Image-Based Computational Fluid Dynamics and Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis in Vascular Diseases. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:855791. [PMID: 35573253 PMCID: PMC9091352 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.855791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Hemodynamic factors, induced by pulsatile blood flow, play a crucial role in vascular health and diseases, such as the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, and fluid-structure interaction simulations have been widely used to quantify detailed hemodynamic forces based on vascular images commonly obtained from computed tomography angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography. In this review, we focus on methods for obtaining accurate hemodynamic factors that regulate the structure and function of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells. We describe the multiple steps and recent advances in a typical patient-specific simulation pipeline, including medical imaging, image processing, spatial discretization to generate computational mesh, setting up boundary conditions and solver parameters, visualization and extraction of hemodynamic factors, and statistical analysis. These steps have not been standardized and thus have unavoidable uncertainties that should be thoroughly evaluated. We also discuss the recent development of combining patient-specific models with machine-learning methods to obtain hemodynamic factors faster and cheaper than conventional methods. These critical advances widen the use of biomechanical simulation tools in the research and potential personalized care of vascular diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong He
- Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Hannah Northrup
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Ha Le
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Alfred K. Cheung
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Scott A. Berceli
- Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
- Vascular Surgery Section, Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Yan Tin Shiu
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- *Correspondence: Yan Tin Shiu,
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10
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An inverse method for mechanical characterization of heterogeneous diseased arteries using intravascular imaging. Sci Rep 2021; 11:22540. [PMID: 34795350 PMCID: PMC8602310 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01874-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The increasing prevalence of finite element (FE) simulations in the study of atherosclerosis has spawned numerous inverse FE methods for the mechanical characterization of diseased tissue in vivo. Current approaches are however limited to either homogenized or simplified material representations. This paper presents a novel method to account for tissue heterogeneity and material nonlinearity in the recovery of constitutive behavior using imaging data acquired at differing intravascular pressures by incorporating interfaces between various intra-plaque tissue types into the objective function definition. Method verification was performed in silico by recovering assigned material parameters from a pair of vessel geometries: one derived from coronary optical coherence tomography (OCT); one generated from in silico-based simulation. In repeated tests, the method consistently recovered 4 linear elastic (0.1 ± 0.1% error) and 8 nonlinear hyperelastic (3.3 ± 3.0% error) material parameters. Method robustness was also highlighted in noise sensitivity analysis, where linear elastic parameters were recovered with average errors of 1.3 ± 1.6% and 8.3 ± 10.5%, at 5% and 20% noise, respectively. Reproducibility was substantiated through the recovery of 9 material parameters in two more models, with mean errors of 3.0 ± 4.7%. The results highlight the potential of this new approach, enabling high-fidelity material parameter recovery for use in complex cardiovascular computational studies.
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