Systems and methods for using dynamic vascular assessment to improve vascular stent placement, application, design and marketing
The invention relates to systems and methods for assessing blood flow in single or multiple vessels and segments, for assessing vascular health, for conducting clinical trials, for screening therapeutic interventions for effect, for assessing risk factors, for evaluating intracranial pressure and for analyzing the results in a defined manner. The invention enables direct monitoring of therapies, substances and devices on blood vessels, especially those of the cerebral vasculature. Relevant blood flow parameters include mean flow velocity, systolic acceleration, and pulsatility index. Measurement and analysis of these parameters, and others, provides details regarding the vascular health of individual and multiple vessels and a global analysis of an individual's overall vascular health. The invention is applicable as both a system and method for monitoring and improving the design, performance, marketing and use of vascular stents. In particular, the invention enables DVA-assisted stenting procedures, including both pre-operative and post-operative management.
1. A method of assisting a stenting procedure in a human or an animal, comprising the steps of:
obtaining a first set of intracranial blood flow data from a patient;
generating blood flow factor values from said first set of blood flow data, the blood flow factor values including at least a value for mean blood flow velocity and a value for systolic acceleration;
correlating said blood flow factor values;
assessing blood flow based upon said correlated blood flow factor values; and
inserting a stent at a location within a lumen, the location being based upon the assessed blood flow.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said stent is expanded in stages.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said steps of obtaining a first set of blood flow data, generating at least two blood flow factor values from said first set of blood flow data, correlating said at least two blood flow factor values and assessing blood flow at least on said correlated blood flow factor values occur before inserting the stent.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing the steps of obtaining a second set of blood flow data, generating at least two blood flow factor values from said second set of blood flow data, correlating said at least two blood flow factor values and assessing blood flow at least on said correlated blood flow factor values after inserting the stent.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said blood flow factor values also include at least one of a pulsatility index value, a natural logarithm of systolic acceleration value, a peak systolic velocity value, an end diastolic velocity value, a peak systolic time value, an end diastolic time value, an acceleration/mean flow velocity index value, a velocity/impedance index value and an acceleration/impedance index value.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising the step of correlating at least three blood flow factor values.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of obtaining intracranial blood flow data comprises use of emissive and reflective wave technology.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said emissive and reflective wave technology includes ultrasound technology.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said ultrasound technology includes Doppler technology.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein said ultrasound technology includes thin wire intravascular ultrasound technology.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein said emissive and reflective wave technology includes laser technology.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of generating a reference data set of correlated blood flow factor values.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of supplementing a reference data set of correlated blood flow factor values with additional correlated blood flow factor values and data.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of comparing said correlated blood flow factor values with a reference data set of correlated blood flow factor values.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of designing a stent.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of infusing a stent with at least one chemical composition.
17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of coating a stent with at least one chemical composition.
18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of inserting the blood flow factor values into a schema.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of assessing blood flow based upon said correlated blood flow factor values includes evaluating the patient's anticipated reaction to a proposed treatment approach.