Method and system for image processing to determine patient-specific blood flow characteristics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9697330-B2
Application number	US-201514986013-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 31, 2015
Priority date	Aug 12, 2010
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments include a system for determining cardiovascular information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system configured to receive patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart, and create a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of the patient's heart based on the patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may be further configured to create a physics-based model relating to a blood flow characteristic of the patient's heart and determine a fractional flow reserve within the patient's heart based on the three-dimensional model and the physics-based model.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of image processing to determine blood flow through coronary arteries of a patient, comprising:
receiving a 3D image data set of an anatomy comprising at least one or more coronary arteries and myocardial muscle of the patient;
receiving a perfusion information data set measured from the patient and corresponding to the 3D image data set;
generating a three-dimensional anatomical model depicting the anatomy of the patient's coronary arteries and the myocardial muscle, based on the 3D image data set;
subdividing the myocardial muscle into myocardial muscle segments based on which portion of the myocardial muscle is supplied by each of the coronary arteries;
determining the blood flow into the respective myocardial muscle segments from said perfusion information data set, by performing a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of blood flow using the three-dimensional anatomical model;
determining blood flow characteristics at one or more points of a coronary artery of interest, based on the simulated blood flow into all myocardial muscle segments supplied by said coronary artery;
determining an estimate of fractional flow reserve in said coronary artery of interest using the blood flow characteristics; and
outputting one or more of the determined fractional flow reserve, blood flow characteristics, or the three-dimensional model to an electronic storage medium or display.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said 3D image data sets of at least the coronary arteries and the myocardial muscle is generated from a CT scanner.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said fractional flow reserve is determined by use of a an analytical pressure calculation model or a reduced order parameter model.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the myocardial muscle is subdivided into myocardial muscle segments using a patient-specific model and/or the 3D image data set.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a cross section and/or resistance to flow of the coronary arteries is additionally used in the step determining the blood flow into the coronary artery of interest.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
performing a fractional flow reserve simulation at a plurality of consecutive points in time based on the anatomical data set depicting the anatomy.

7. A computer system for image processing to
determine the blood flow through coronary arteries of a patient, the computer system comprising:
a digital storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform a method for image processing to determine the blood flow through coronary arteries of a patient; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform the method for image processing to determine the blood flow through coronary arteries of a patient, the method comprising:
receiving a 3D image data set of an anatomy comprising at least one or more coronary arteries and myocardial muscle of the patient;
receiving a perfusion information data set measured from the patient and corresponding to the 3D image data set;
generating a three-dimensional anatomical model depicting the anatomy of the patient's coronary arteries and the myocardial muscle, based on the 3D image data set;
subdividing the myocardial muscle into myocardial muscle segments based on which portion of the myocardial muscle is supplied by each of the coronary arteries;
determining the blood flow into the respective myocardial muscle segments from said perfusion information data set, by performing a 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of blood flow using the three-dimensional anatomical model;
determining blood flow characteristics at one or more points of a coronary artery of interest, based on the simulated blood flow into all myocardial muscle segments supplied by said coronary artery;
determining an estimate of fractional flow reserve in said coronary artery of interest using the blood flow characteristics; and
outputting one or more of the determined fractional flow reserve, blood flow characteristics, or the three-dimensional model to an electronic storage medium or display.

8. An imaging device comprising:
an acquisition unit for acquiring the anatomical data set depicting the anatomy;
a processor as claimed in claim 7 for determining the blood flow through the one or more coronary arteries; and
an output unit for outputting the determined blood flow into a coronary artery of interest of the one or more coronary arteries.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of image processing to determine blood flow through coronary arteries of a patient, the method comprising:
receiving a 3D image data set of an anatomy comprising at least one or more coronary arteries and myocardial muscle of the patient;
receiving a perfusion information data set measured from the patient and corresponding to the 3D image data set;
generating a three-dimensional anatomical model depicting the anatomy of the patient's coronary arteries and the myocardial muscle, based on the 3D image data set;
subdividing the myocardial muscle into myocardial muscle segments based on which portion of the myocardial muscle is supplied by each of the coronary arteries;
determining the blood flow into the respective myocardial muscle segments from said perfusion information data set, by performing a 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of blood flow using the three-dimensional anatomical model;
determining blood flow characteristics at one or more points of a coronary artery of interest, based on the simulated blood flow into all myocardial muscle segments supplied by said coronary artery;
determining an estimate of fractional flow reserve in said coronary artery of interest using the blood flow characteristics; and
outputting one or more of the determined fractional flow reserve, blood flow characteristics, or the three-dimensional model to an electronic storage medium or display.

10. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said 3D image data sets of at least the coronary arteries and the myocardial muscle is generated from a CT scanner.

11. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said fractional flow reserve is determined by use of an analytical pressure calculation model or a reduced order parameter model.

12. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the myocardial muscle is subdivided into myocardial muscle segments using a patient-specific model and/or the 3D image data set.

13. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 , wherein a cross section and/or resistance to flow of the coronary arteries is additionally used in the step determining the blood flow into the coronary artery of interest.

14. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising the step of:
performing a fractional flow reserve simulation at a plurality of consecutive points in time based on the anatomical data set depicting the anatomy.

Assignees

• Heartflow Inc

Inventors

• Taylor Charles A

Classifications

• G16H70/00

  ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references · CPC title

• G16H30/20

  for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS · CPC title

• G06T12/30

  Image post-processing, e.g. metal artefact correction · CPC title

• G06T11/10

  Texturing; Colouring; Generation of textures or colours (retouching, inpainting or scratch removal G06T5/77) · CPC title

• G06F18/24

  Classification techniques · CPC title