by Samuel Voß, Oliver Beuing, Gabor Janiga, Philipp Berg
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Image-based blood flow simulations have been increasingly applied to investigate intracranial aneurysm (IA) hemodynamics. However, the acceptance among physicians remains limited due to the high variability in the underlying assumptions and quality of results. METHODS: To evaluate the vessel segmentation as one of the most important sources of error, the international Multiple Aneurysms AnaTomy CHallenge 2018 (MATCH) was announced. 26 research groups from 13 different countries segmented three datasets, which contained five IAs in total. Based on these segmentations, 73 time-dependent blood flow simulations under consistent conditions were carried out. Afterwards, relevant flow and shear parameters (e.g., neck inflow rate, parent vessel flow rate, spatial mean velocity, and wall shear stress) were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. RESULTS: Regarding the entire vasculature, the variability of the segmented vessel radius is 0.13 mm, consistent and independent of the local vessel radius. However, the centerline velocity shows increased variability in more distal vessels. Focusing on the aneurysms, clear differences in morphological and hemodynamic parameters were observed. The quantification of the segmentation-induced variability showed approximately a 14\% difference among the groups for the parent vessel flow rate. Regarding the mean aneurysmal velocity and the neck inflow rate, a variation of 30\% and 46\% was observed, respectively. Finally, time-averaged wall shear stresses varied between 28\% and 51\%, depending on the aneurysm in question. CONCLUSIONS: MATCH reveals the effect of state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms on subsequent hemodynamic simulations for IA research. The observed variations may lead to an inappropriate interpretation of the simulation results and thus, can lead to inappropriate conclusions by physicians. Therefore, accurate segmentation of the region of interest is necessary to obtain reliable and clinically helpful flow information.
Reference:
Multiple Aneurysms AnaTomy CHallenge 2018 (MATCH)-Phase Ib: Effect of morphology on hemodynamics. (Samuel Voß, Oliver Beuing, Gabor Janiga, Philipp Berg), In PloS one, volume 14, 2019.
Bibtex Entry:
@article{vos_multiple_2019,
title = {Multiple {Aneurysms} {AnaTomy} {CHallenge} 2018 ({MATCH})-{Phase} {Ib}: {Effect} of morphology on hemodynamics.},
volume = {14},
issn = {1932-6203 1932-6203},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0216813},
abstract = {BACKGROUND: Image-based blood flow simulations have been increasingly applied to investigate intracranial aneurysm (IA) hemodynamics. However, the acceptance among physicians remains limited due to the high variability in the underlying assumptions and quality of results. METHODS: To evaluate the vessel segmentation as one of the most important sources of error, the international Multiple Aneurysms AnaTomy CHallenge 2018 (MATCH) was announced. 26 research groups from 13 different countries segmented three datasets, which contained five IAs in total. Based on these segmentations, 73 time-dependent blood flow simulations under consistent conditions were carried out. Afterwards, relevant flow and shear parameters (e.g., neck inflow rate, parent vessel flow rate, spatial mean velocity, and wall shear stress) were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. RESULTS: Regarding the entire vasculature, the variability of the segmented vessel radius is 0.13 mm, consistent and independent of the local vessel radius. However, the centerline velocity shows increased variability in more distal vessels. Focusing on the aneurysms, clear differences in morphological and hemodynamic parameters were observed. The quantification of the segmentation-induced variability showed approximately a 14\% difference among the groups for the parent vessel flow rate. Regarding the mean aneurysmal velocity and the neck inflow rate, a variation of 30\% and 46\% was observed, respectively. Finally, time-averaged wall shear stresses varied between 28\% and 51\%, depending on the aneurysm in question. CONCLUSIONS: MATCH reveals the effect of state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms on subsequent hemodynamic simulations for IA research. The observed variations may lead to an inappropriate interpretation of the simulation results and thus, can lead to inappropriate conclusions by physicians. Therefore, accurate segmentation of the region of interest is necessary to obtain reliable and clinically helpful flow information.},
language = {eng},
number = {5},
journal = {PloS one},
author = {Voß, Samuel and Beuing, Oliver and Janiga, Gabor and Berg, Philipp},
year = {2019},
pmid = {31100101},
pages = {e0216813}
}