DETERMINATION OF HEMODYNAMIC INDICES

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining multiple cardiac images, each of the multiple cardiac images depicting a respective segment of a coronary artery of interest;

determining a geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the multiple cardiac images;

determining, based on the geometric structure, a lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest; and

determining, based on the lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest, respective values of at least one hemodynamic index at a position of the coronary artery of interest.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining multiple cardiac images comprises:

determining, based on at least one frame at a beginning of an angiogram, at least one landmark associated with the coronary artery of interest;

determining, among frames of the angiogram, a frame at which panning begins and a further frame at which the panning ends based on the at least one landmark; and

selecting, among the frames of the angiogram, the multiple cardiac images based on the frame and the further frame such that the multiple cardiac images pertain to the same cardiac phase and depicts the coronary artery of interest.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

merging the multiple cardiac images into a merged cardiac image;

wherein said determining of the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest is based on the merged cardiac image.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining a geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the multiple cardiac images comprises:

determining, for each of the multiple cardiac images, a respective segment of the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the respective one of the multiple cardiac images; and

merging the respective segments of the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest into the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining at least one measurement associated with the at least one hemodynamic index at a further position within a region of the coronary artery of interest arranged upstream with respect to the position;

wherein said determining of the respective values of the at least one hemodynamic index at the position is further based on the at least one measurement at the further position.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one hemodynamic index comprises a blood pressure and a blood flow rate, and determining, based on the lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest, respective values of at least one hemodynamic index at a position of the coronary artery of interest comprises:

determining, based on the at least one measurement, both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest;

determining, using the lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest, coefficients characterizing a total energy loss of blood flow passing from the further position to the position based on the geometric structure of a segment of the coronary artery of interest between the further position and the position; and

determining, based on both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest and the coefficients, the respective values of the at least one hemodynamic index at the position.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the at least one measurement comprises both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the at least one measurement comprises a blood pressure drop between a root of an aorta and the further position, the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest comprises a further segment of the coronary artery of interest between the root of the aorta and the further position, and determining, based on the at least one measurement, both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest comprises:

obtaining central aortic blood pressure at the root of the aorta;

determining, using the lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest, further coefficients characterizing a further total energy loss of blood flow passing from the root of the aorta to the further position based on the geometric structure of the further segment of the coronary artery of interest between the root of the aorta and the further position; and

determining, based on the blood pressure drop, the central aortic blood pressure, and the further coefficients, both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein determining, based on the at least one measurement, both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest comprises:

obtaining a central aortic blood pressure at a root of an aorta, wherein the at least one measurement comprises a fractional flow reserve, FFR, measured at the further position and relative to the central aortic blood pressure; and

determining, based on the central aortic blood pressure, and the FFR, both the blood pressure and the blood flow rate at the further position of the coronary artery of interest.

10 . The computer-implemented method of any one of claim 5 , further comprising:

comparing the respective values of the at least one hemodynamic index at the position with corresponding values of the at least one hemodynamic index at the further position; and

acquiring a further cardiac image depicting the entire coronary artery of interest, if said comparing indicates that one or more of the at least one hemodynamic index changes beyond a respective pre-defined threshold.

11 . The computer-implemented method of any one of claim 5 , where the at least one measurement associated with the at least one hemodynamic index at the further position is obtained using a pressure wire.

12 . The computer-implemented method of any one of claim 5 , wherein the at least one measurement comprises measurement obtained using at least one of the following imaging machines: a C-arm X-ray machine, an intravascular ultrasound machine, an optical coherence tomography machine, and a coronary computed tomography angiography machine.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

visualizing, in a cardiac image comprising the position, the respective values of the at least one hemodynamic index at the position.

14 . A computing device, the device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein upon loading and executing program code from the memory, the processor is configured to perform operations of:

obtaining multiple cardiac images, each of the multiple cardiac images depicting a respective segment of a coronary artery of interest;

determining a geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the multiple cardiac images;

determining, based on the geometric structure, a lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest; and

determining, based on the lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest, respective values of at least one hemodynamic index at a position of the coronary artery of interest.

15 . The computing device of claim 14 , wherein obtaining multiple cardiac images comprises:

determining, based on at least one frame at a beginning of an angiogram, at least one landmark associated with the coronary artery of interest;

determining, among frames of the angiogram, a frame at which panning begins and a further frame at which the panning ends based on the at least one landmark; and

selecting, among the frames of the angiogram, the multiple cardiac images based on the frame and the further frame such that the multiple cardiac images pertain to the same cardiac phase and depicts the coronary artery of interest.

16 . The computing device of claim 14 , further comprising:

merging the multiple cardiac images into a merged cardiac image;

wherein said determining of the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest is based on the merged cardiac image.

17 . An angiography device comprising the computing device of claim 14 .

18 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer program instructions, the computer program instructions, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining multiple cardiac images, each of the multiple cardiac images depicting a respective segment of a coronary artery of interest;

determining a geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the multiple cardiac images;

determining, based on the geometric structure, a lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest; and

determining, based on the lumped parameter model of the coronary artery of interest, respective values of at least one hemodynamic index at a position of the coronary artery of interest.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein determining a geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the multiple cardiac images comprises:

determining, for each of the multiple cardiac images, a respective segment of the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest based on the respective one of the multiple cardiac images; and

merging the respective segments of the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest into the geometric structure of the coronary artery of interest.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , the operations further comprising:

obtaining at least one measurement associated with the at least one hemodynamic index at a further position within a region of the coronary artery of interest arranged upstream with respect to the position;

wherein said determining of the respective values of the at least one hemodynamic index at the position is further based on the at least one measurement at the further position.