Development of a surrogate model for predicting atherosclerotic plaque progression based on agent based modeling data

Lemana Spahić1, Nenad Filipović2

  • 1Research and Development center for Bioengineering, BioIRC, Kragujevac, Serbia.

Insights

Researchers developed a highly accurate 95.4% surrogate model for predicting coronary atherosclerosis plaque progression. This artificial neural network model offers a faster alternative to complex simulations, aiding real-time clinical decision support.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Research
  • Computational Biology
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Coronary atherosclerosis (CATS) is a leading global cause of death, characterized by plaque buildup in arteries.
  • Computational modeling, particularly agent-based modeling (ABM), has advanced the simulation of plaque progression.
  • There is a need for optimized predictive modeling resources, leading to the development of surrogate models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a surrogate model for simulating atherosclerotic plaque progression.
  • To utilize data from agent-based modeling (ABM) simulations for surrogate model training.
  • To create a computationally efficient alternative to lengthy simulations.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a dataset comprising latin-hypercube sampling parameters and 15 patient-specific geometries with plaque progression data.
  • Developed a deep learning-based surrogate model employing artificial neural networks (ANN).
  • Benchmarked the surrogate model against the original ABM framework.

Main Results:

  • The developed surrogate model achieved a high accuracy of 95.4% when benchmarked against the ABM model.
  • Demonstrated the robustness and reliability of the artificial neural network framework for this application.
  • Indicated the potential for accurate prediction of atherosclerotic plaque progression.

Conclusions:

  • The high accuracy of the surrogate model supports its practical adoption.
  • This framework enables the use of high-fidelity decision support systems for real-time prediction of atherosclerotic plaque progression.
  • Facilitates faster and more efficient clinical decision-making in managing coronary artery disease.