Method and system for patient-specific modeling of blood flow

• US 10,682,180 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2013
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Heartflow Inc.
• Original Assignee: Heartflow Inc.
• Inventors: Taylor, Charles A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moher, Amanda Lauritzen
• Application Number:
  US14/081,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20140148693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,405 Days
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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 patients 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.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for assessing cardiac hemodynamic information, comprising:

accessing or acquiring volumetric coronary vascular images depicting a geometry of a location of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel;

generating, using a computer, an anatomical model of the geometry of the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel from the accessed or acquired volumetric coronary vascular images;

obtaining a solid model by trimming the anatomical model at the geometry of the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel and identifying a location of the solid model corresponding to the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel;

determining a patient-specific boundary condition at the location of the solid model;

acquiring, based on the patient-specific boundary condition, local blood flow information of blood flow through the patient'"'"'s blood vessel at the location;

estimating, using a computer, a myocardial fractional flow reserve for a selected segment of the coronary vasculature, wherein the estimation is based at least in part on the anatomical model and the acquired local blood flow information; and

determining a visual indicator of the myocardial fractional flow reserve for display, or determining a presence of a blood vessel narrowing or stenosis based on the myocardial fractional flow reserve.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a set of CT image data;

determining a cardiac phase of interest using the set of CT image data;

segmenting the coronary arteries from one or more CT images at the cardiac phase of interest; and

deriving the anatomical model based at least in part on the segmented coronary arteries.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a cardiac phase of interest using a set of reconstructed image data;

segmenting the coronary arteries from one or more reconstructed images at the cardiac phase of interest; and

deriving the anatomical model based at least in part on the segmented coronary arteries.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the anatomical model further comprises a location or a topology of a vessel tree.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the blood vessel comprises a stenotic lesion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the myocardial fractional flow reserve comprises providing at least the anatomical model and the local blood flow information to a computational fluid dynamics model.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the local blood flow information comprises a flow boundary condition used in the computational fluid dynamics model.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media encoding one or more processor-executable routines, wherein the one or more routines cause acts to be performed comprising:

accessing or acquiring volumetric coronary vasculature images depicting a geometry of a location of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel;

generating an anatomical model of the geometry of the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel from the accessed or acquired volumetric coronary vascular images;

obtaining a solid model by trimming the anatomical model at the geometry of the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel and identifying a location of the solid model corresponding to the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel;

determining a patient-specific boundary condition at the location of the solid model;

acquiring, based on the patient-specific boundary condition, local blood flow information of blood flow through the patient'"'"'s blood vessel at the location;

estimating a myocardial fractional flow reserve for a selected segment of the coronary vasculature, wherein the estimation is based at least in part on the anatomical model and the blood flow information; and

determining a visual indicator of the myocardial fractional flow reserve for display, or determining a presence of a blood vessel narrowing or stenosis based on the myocardial fractional flow reserve.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the one or more routines cause further acts to be performed comprising:

receiving a set of computed tomography (CT) image data;

determining a cardiac phase of interest using the CT image data;

segmenting the coronary arteries from one or more CT images of the CT image data at the cardiac phase of interest; and

deriving the anatomical model based at least in part on the segmented coronary arteries.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the one or more routines cause further acts to be performed comprising:

determining a cardiac phase of interest using reconstructed image data;

segmenting the coronary arteries from one or more images of the reconstructed image data at the cardiac phase of interest; and

deriving the anatomical model based at least in part on the segmented coronary arteries.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the anatomical model further comprises a location or a topology of a vessel tree.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein estimating the myocardial fractional flow reserve comprises providing at least the anatomical model and the local blood flow information to a computational fluid dynamics model.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the local blood flow information comprises a flow boundary condition used in the computational fluid dynamics model.

14. A processor-based system, comprising:

a memory encoding one or more processor-executable routines;

a computer, wherein the computer when executing the one or more processor-executable routines is configured to;

access or acquire volumetric coronary vascular images depicting a geometry of a location of a patient'"'"'s blood vessel;

generate an anatomical model of the geometry of the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel from the accessed or acquired volumetric coronary vascular images;

obtain a solid model by trimming the anatomical model at the geometry of the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel and identifying a location of the solid model corresponding to the location of the patient'"'"'s blood vessel;

determine a patient-specific boundary condition at the location of the solid model;

acquire, based on the patient-specific boundary condition, local blood flow information of blood flow through the patient'"'"'s blood vessel at the location;

estimate a myocardial fractional flow reserve for a selected segment of the coronary vasculature, wherein the estimation is based at least in part on the anatomical model and the local blood flow information; and

determine a visual indicator of the myocardial fractional flow reserve for display, or determining a presence of a blood vessel narrowing or stenosis based on the myocardial fractional flow reserve.

15. The processor-based system of claim 14, wherein the computer when executing the one or more processor-executable routines is further configured to:

receive a set of computed tomography (CT) image data;

determine a cardiac phase of interest using the CT image data;

segment the coronary arteries from one or more CT images of the CT image data at the cardiac phase of interest; and

derive the anatomical model based at least in part on the segmented coronary arteries.

16. The processor-based system of claim 14, wherein the computer when executing the one or more processor-executable routines is further configured to:

determine a cardiac phase of interest using reconstructed image data;

segment the coronary arteries from one or more images of the reconstructed image data at the cardiac phase of interest; and

derive the anatomical model based at least in part on the segmented coronary arteries.

17. The processor-based system of claim 14, wherein the anatomical model further comprises a location or a topology of a vessel tree.

18. The processor-based system of claim 14, wherein estimating the myocardial fractional flow reserve comprises providing at least the anatomical model and the local blood flow information to a computational fluid dynamics model.

19. The processor-based system of claim 18, wherein the local blood flow information comprises a flow boundary condition used in the computational fluid dynamics model.

20. The processor-based system of claim 14, wherein the location of the blood vessel comprises a stenotic lesion.