Method and system for image processing to determine patient-specific blood flow characteristics
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.
1. A system for determining a perfusion of a myocardial muscle comprising:
a data storage device storing instructions for anatomical modeling; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method including:
receiving patient-specific static coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images of a patient's coronary blood vessels and myocardial muscle;
generating a three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels using the static CCTA images;
identifying, from the static CCTA images a selected volume of the patient's myocardial muscle associated with a vessel segment defined by an inflow boundary and an outflow boundary of the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels;
calculating an estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment of the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels;
determining, using the calculated estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment, a second estimate of the blood flow into the selected volume of the patient's myocardial muscle; and
calculating a patient-specific local perfusion of the selected volume of the myocardial muscle using the second estimate of blood flow.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further configured for:
segmenting the patient's coronary blood vessels based on the static CCTA images; and
generating the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels using the segmented coronary blood vessels.
3. The system as claimed in claim 2 , further configured for:
using a statistical model to determine time functions for an arterial inflow and a venous outflow based on an accumulation of a contrast agent in the patient's blood vessels.
4. The system as claimed in claim 3 , further configured for:
using data corresponding to an injected contrast agent for the purpose of determining the time functions.
5. A computed tomography scanner comprising the system as claimed in claim 2 .
6. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further configured for:
calculating the estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment using a lattice Boltzmann method.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further configured for:
using a statistical model to determine time functions for an arterial inflow and a venous outflow from the static CCTA images.
8. The system as claimed in claim 7 , further configured for:
using data corresponding to an injected contrast agent for the purpose of determining the time functions.
9. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further configured for:
simulating a dynamic accumulation of a contrast agent in different branches of the patient's blood vessels to determine anatomical characteristics of the different branches of the patient's blood vessels affecting local perfusion; and
calculating perfusion parameters for the patient-specific local perfusion from the anatomical characteristics affecting local perfusion.
10. A computed tomography scanner comprising the system as claimed in claim 1 .
11. The system of claim 1 , further configured for:
receiving an image of the myocardial muscle from which the patient-specific local perfusion is identifiable.
12. The system of claim 1 , further configured for:
determining the patient-specific local perfusion for the region based on the physiological condition of a patient.
13. A method for using image processing to determine perfusion of a myocardial muscle, comprising:
receiving patient-specific static coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images of a patient's coronary blood vessels and myocardial muscle;
generating a three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels using the static CCTA images;
identifying, from the static CCTA images, a selected volume of the patient's myocardial muscle associated with a vessel segment defined by an inflow boundary and an outflow boundary of the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels;
calculating an estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment of the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels;
determining, using the calculated estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment, a second estimate of the blood flow into the selected volume of the patient's myocardial muscle; and
calculating a patient-specific local perfusion of the selected volume of the myocardial muscle using the second estimate of blood flow.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
calculating the patient-specific local perfusion based on the physiological condition of the patient.
15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
visualizing an image of the myocardial muscle from which the patient-specific local perfusion of the myocardial muscle is identifiable.
16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
segmenting the patient's coronary blood vessels based on the static CCTA images; and
generating the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels using the segmented coronary blood vessels.
17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
calculating the estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment using a lattice Boltzmann method.
18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
using a statistical model to determine time functions for an arterial inflow and a venous outflow from the static CCTA images.
19. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receiving patient-specific static coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images of a patient's coronary blood vessels and myocardial muscle;
generating a three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels using the static CCTA images;
identifying, from the static CCTA images, a selected volume of the patient's myocardial muscle associated with a vessel segment defined by an inflow boundary and an outflow boundary of the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels;
calculating an estimate of blood flow through the segment of the three-dimensional model of the patient's blood vessels;
determining, using the calculated estimate of blood flow through the vessel segment, a second estimate of the blood flow into the selected volume of the patient's myocardial muscle; and
calculating a patient-specific local perfusion of the selected volume of the myocardial muscle using the second estimate of blood flow.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium is configured for:
calculating the patient-specific local perfusion based on the physiological condition of the patient.