A framework for geometric analysis of vascular structures: application to cerebral aneurysms

Area of Science:

• Medical imaging and computational geometry
• Vascular biology and hemodynamics
• Biomedical engineering and data analysis

Background:

• Vascular geometry significantly influences blood flow dynamics and the development of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and cerebral aneurysms.
• Advances in medical imaging provide detailed 3D in vivo vasculature data, but robust quantitative analysis tools are lacking.
• Understanding geometric features linked to pathology can elucidate disease mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a computational framework for the geometric analysis of vascular structures.
• To quantify geometric relationships within vascular networks using centerlines.
• To provide robust and objective tools for analyzing in vivo vascular geometry.

Main Methods:

• Development of a framework based on computational geometry principles for robust analysis of in vivo vascular geometry.
• Utilizing centerlines for defining and quantifying geometric relationships in vascular networks.
• Integration of the framework within the open-source Vascular Modeling Toolkit (VMTK).

Main Results:

• The framework offers robust geometric analysis applicable to the high variability of in vivo vascular geometry.
• The VMTK provides tools for image segmentation, geometric characterization, mesh generation, and computational hemodynamics.
• The framework was applied to characterize geometric relationships between cerebral aneurysms and parent vasculature within the Aneurisk project.

Conclusions:

• The presented framework enables objective and quantitative analysis of vascular geometry.
• This approach aids in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of vascular diseases.
• The VMTK framework facilitates research into the geometric factors influencing conditions like cerebral aneurysms.