Procedure to evaluate the efficacy of a treatment using patient-specific lung models

摘要

A procedure for evaluating the efficacy of a treatment of a respiratory condition in a subject comprising the steps of: a) obtaining data relating to a three-dimensional image of the subject's respiratory system before treatment and a three-dimensional image of the subject's respiratory system after treatment, b) calculate a specific three-dimensional structural model of the lung structure of the subject from each of the image data obtained before and after the treatment in step a), c) calculate a specific three-dimensional structural model of the structure of the airways of the subject from each of the image data obtained before and after the treatment in step a), d) calculate a patient-specific three-dimensional structural model of the lobular structure of the subject from each of the lung structure models obtained before and after treatment in stage b), e) model inf air flow through the states of the airways before and after treatment, using the respective before and after treatment models of the airways and the lobular structure of the subject obtained in stages c) and d); f) computer modeling the structural behavior of the airways and the interaction with the flow in the states before and after the treatment, using the respective before and after treatment models of the airways and the lobular structure of the subject obtained in stages c) and d); g) compare the air flow and structural behavior modeled before and after treatment to determine the effectiveness of a treatment, in which an effective treatment is one that reduces the resistance of the airways, thereby increasing the lobular mass for same driving pressure.