Method and system for multi-scale anatomical and functional modeling of coronary circulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10162932-B2
Application number	US-201213672781-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2012
Priority date	Nov 10, 2011
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

A method and system for multi-scale anatomical and functional modeling of coronary circulation is disclosed. A patient-specific anatomical model of coronary arteries and the heart is generated from medical image data of a patient. A multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation is generated based on the patient-specific anatomical model. Blood flow is simulated in at least one stenosis region of at least one coronary artery using the multi-scale function model of coronary circulation. Hemodynamic quantities, such as fractional flow reserve (FFR), are computed to determine a functional assessment of the stenosis, and virtual intervention simulations are performed using the multi-scale function model of coronary circulation for decision support and intervention planning.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
generating a patient-specific anatomical model of coronary arteries and a heart from medical image data of a patient;
generating a multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation based on the patient-specific anatomical model;
coupling, to the multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation, a cellular model of endothelial cell function that simulates changes in a mechanical property of a vascular wall due to a response of endothelial cells to hemodynamic forces, wherein a wall shear-stress value calculated by the multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation is used to couple the multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation to the cellular model of endothelial function through a mechanotransduction model; and
simulating blood flow in at least one stenosis region of at least one coronary artery and changes in a mechanical property of a vascular wall in the at least one stenosis region of the at least one coronary artery due to a response of endothelial cells in the vascular wall to hemodynamic forces from the simulated blood flow using the multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation and the cellular model of endothelial cell function coupled to the multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating a patient-specific
anatomical model of coronary arteries and the heart from medical image
data of a patient comprises:
generating a 4D geometric model of the coronary arteries from 4D medical image data; and
generating a 4D anatomical model of the heart from the 4D medical image data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating a 4D geometric model of the coronary arteries from 4D medical image data comprises:
segmenting the coronary arteries in each of a plurality of frames of the 4D medical image data; and
generating a geometric surface model for the segmented coronary arteries in each of the plurality of frames of the 4D medical image data.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating a 4D anatomical model of the heart from the 4D medical image data comprises:
extracting individual models of each of a plurality of heart components in each of a plurality of frames of the 4D medical image data; and
integrating the individual models for the plurality of heart components in each of the plurality of frames of the 4D medical image data by establishing mesh point correspondence between the individual models.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating a multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation based on the patient-specific anatomical model comprises:
generating a 3D computation model for each of one or more stenosis regions in the coronary arteries;
generating 1D computation models for non-stenosis regions of the coronary arteries and the aorta; and
representing microvasculature vessels using 0D lumped models.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the 3D computation model for each stenosis region is a rigid wall 3D model and 0D interface models between the 3D computation model for each stenosis region and the 1D computation models for non-stenosis regions of the coronary arteries adjacent to each stenosis region concentrate compliance of the stenosis region.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating a multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation based on the patient-specific anatomical model further comprises:
generating a structured tree model for the vascular tree of the patient.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating a multi-scale functional model of coronary circulation based on the patient-specific anatomical model further comprises:
generating a reduced order model of the heart from full-order anatomical and hemodynamic models of the heart.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating a reduced order model of the heart from full-order anatomical and hemodynamic models of the heart comprises:
estimating motion and mechanical parameters of one or more heart components based on the anatomical and hemodynamic models of the heart; and
determining boundary conditions for computational fluid dynamic simulations based on the motion and mechanical parameters of the one or more heart components.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein simulating blood flow in at least one stenosis region of at least one coronary artery comprises:
simulating blood flow in the at least one stenosis region using the multi-scale function model of coronary circulation based on boundary conditions determined from the anatomical model of the coronary arteries and the heart.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein simulating blood flow in at least one stenosis region of at least one coronary artery comprises:
performing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in the 3D computation model for each stenosis region and the 1D computation models; and
coupling the 3D computation model for each stenosis region, the 1D computation models, and the 0D lumped models.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein coupling the 3D computation model for each stenosis region, the 1D computation models, and the 0D lumped models comprises:
deriving an inflow boundary condition of a system tree model by coupling a 1D computation model representing the aorta to the left ventricle of a heart model.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein coupling the 3D computation model for each stenosis region, the 1D computation models, and the 0D lumped models comprises:
imposing boundary conditions representing an influence of heart contractions on 1D computation models of epicardial coronary vessels using a 3D strain map extracted from the medical image data.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein coupling the 3D computation model for each stenosis region, the 1D computation models, and the 0D lumped models comprises:
determining extracellular pressure applied to the 1D computation models of coronary vessels based on locations of the coronary vessels using the 0D lumped models.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein coupling the 3D computation model for each stenosis region, the 1D computation models, and the 0D lumped models comprises:
coupling the 1D computation models to the 0D lumped models via wall shear stress terms.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein coupling the 3D computation model for each stenosis region, the 1D computation models, and the 0D lumped models comprises:
coupling the 3D computation model to adjacent 1D computation models using 0D interface models.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a hemodynamic quantity to determine a functional significance of the at least one stenosis region based on the simulated blood flow through the at least one stenosis region.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein calculating a hemodynamic quantity to determine a functional significance of the at least one stenosis region based on the simulated blood flow through the at least one stenosis region comprises:
calculating a fractional flow reserve (FFR) of the at least one stenosis region based on the computation blood flow through the at least one stenosis region.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
simulating a virtual intervention in at least one stenosis region using the multi-scale function model of coronary circulation.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein simulating a virtual intervention in at least one stenosis region using the multi-scale function model of coronary circulation comprises:
simulating a balloon inflation by virtually reducing an ob

Assignees

• Sharma Puneet
• Itu Lucian Mihai
• Georgescu Bogdan
• Mihalef Viorel
• Kamen Ali
• Comaniciu Dorin
• Siemens Healthcare Gmbh

Inventors

• Sharma Puneet
• Itu Lucian Mihai
• Georgescu Bogdan
• Mihalef Viorel
• Kamen Ali
• Comaniciu Dorin

Classifications

• G16H50/30

  for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment · CPC title

• G16C99/00

  Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass · CPC title

• G16B15/00

  ICT specially adapted for analysing two-dimensional [2D] or three-dimensional [3D] molecular structures, e.g. structural or functional relations or structure alignment · CPC title

• G16H50/20

  for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems · CPC title

• G16B25/00

  ICT specially adapted for hybridisation; ICT specially adapted for gene or protein expression · CPC title