Analyzing Circle of Willis blood flow in ischemic stroke patients through 3D Stroke Arterial Flow Estimation

Background The objective of ischemic stroke (IS) treatment is to achieve revascularization in cerebral arteries to restore blood flow. However, there is no available method to extract arterial flow data from clinical CTA images. We developed 3D Stroke Arterial Flow Estimation (SAFE), which provides blood flow data throughout the Circle of Willis based on 3D CTA and allows comparison of arterial flow distribution in the brain. Methods We implemented a newly developed 3D vascular reconstruction algorithm for clinical stroke CTA images. Based on the patient-specific vascular structure, SAFE calculates time-resolved blood flow information for the entire Circle of Willis and allows quantitative flow study of IS cases. Clinical IS cases are presented to demonstrate the feasibility. Four patients with CTA images and CT perfusion data were studied. To validate the SAFE analysis, correlation analysis comparing blood flow at the MCA, ICA, and BA was performed. Results Different blood flow patterns were found in individual IS patients. Altered flow patterns and high collateral flow rates were found near occlusions in all cases. Quantitative comparison of blood flow data showed that SAFE obtained flow data and CTP were significantly correlated and provide complementary information about cerebral blood flow for individual patients. Conclusions We present SAFE analysis for collecting detailed time-resolved cerebral arterial flow data in the entire Circle of Willis for IS. Further study with more cases may be important to test the clinical utilization of SAFE and helpful to the study of the underlying hemodynamics of stroke.