Virtual Angiography for Visualization and Validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics Models of Aneurysm Hemodynamics

摘要

It has recently become possible to simulate aneurysmal blood flow dynamics in a patient-specific manner via the coupling of 3D X-ray angiography and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Before such image-based CFD models can be used in a predictive capacity, however, it must be shown that they indeed reproduce the in vivo hemodynamic environment. Motivated by the fact that there is currently no technique for measuring complex blood velocity fields in vivo, in this paper we describe how cine X-ray angiograms may be simulated for the purpose of indirectly validating patient-specific CFD models. Mirroring the radiological procedure, a virtual angiogram is constructed by first simulating the time-varying injection of contrast agent into a previously computed patient-specific CFD model. A time-series of images is then constructed by simulating attenuation of X-rays through the simulated 3D contrast-agent flow dynamics. Virtual angiographic images and residence time maps, here derived from an image-based CFD model of a giant aneurysm, are shown to be in excellent agreement with the corresponding clinical images and maps, but only when the interaction between the quasi-steady contrast-agent injection and the pulsatile wash-out are properly accounted for. These virtual angiographic techniques therefore pave the way for validating image-based CFD models against routinely available clinical data, and also provide a means of visualizing complex, 3D blood flow dynamics in a clinically relevant manner. However, they also clearly show how the contrast-agent injection perturbs the normal blood flow dynamics, further highlighting the utility of CFD as a window into the true aneurysmal hemodynamics.