Expanding point cloud statistical shape model applications: Generalized vascular modeling for population-level...

Population-scale hemodynamic research faces limitations due to the trade-off between computationally expensive patient-specific Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and overly idealized cylindrical models. To overcome this, we propose a novel Tier-2 workflow that integrates point-cloud statistical shape modeling (Pcd-SSM) with HDBSCAN clustering. This approach aims to efficiently characterize the C1 geometries of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and analyze their corresponding flow patterns.

Time-of-flight Magnetic Resonance Angiography (TOF-MRA) data from 229 ICAs (171 normal, 58 with 30-50 % stenosis) were converted into 1024-point correspondences using Point2SSM. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), retaining 95 % variance, was applied before unsupervised clustering. A bootstrap-FDR test on 97 normal cases established the global replacement limit, Ncrit = 40. Cluster mean models were then meshed and evaluated using steady, non-Newtonian CFD simulations. The results were benchmarked against individual simulations and diameter-based models.

This framework significantly enhances the accuracy (error reduction of 77-95 %) and efficiency (computational cost reduced by approximately 65 times) of hemodynamic simulations in medium-to-large cohorts (Tier 2). Applied to stenosed arterial segments, the model successfully captured approximately 91 % of velocity increases and 51 % of pressure drops, accurately revealing high wall shear stress distributions.

Our "tier-and-cluster" generalization framework, driven by deep learning Pcd-SSM, provides a unified and transferable paradigm for analyzing complex vascular morphology and blood flow. It offers a robust tool for population-level blood flow studies, individualized risk stratification, exploration of pathological mechanisms, and evaluation of intervention timing for vascular stenosis.