Diagnostically useful results in real time

Inventors

Lavi, Ifat • Kornowski, Ran • Avrahami, Idit • Benishti, Nessi • Lavi, Guy

Assignees

CathWorks Ltd

Abstract

A method and apparatus for vascular assessment are disclosed. The apparatus, in some embodiments, receives, from a medical imaging device, a medical image of a coronary vessel tree of a subject and calculates a plurality of geometric measurements associated with individual portions of a vascular segment of the coronary vessel tree. The apparatus also determines a plurality of resistances associated with the plurality of geometric measurements associated with the individual portions of the vascular segment and determines a plurality of pressure drops across the individual portions of the vascular segment based on the determined resistances and a calculated or estimated blood flow. The apparatus further calculates based on the plurality of pressure drops, a functional index indicative of a presence or an absence of a stenosis within the vascular segment.

Core Innovation

The disclosed invention obtains a plurality of medical images of a coronary vessel tree. The method determines first pressure drops associated with the coronary vessel tree, where individual pressure drops are associated with individual vessel segments that form the coronary vessel tree.

For a particular vessel segment, the method adjusts the first pressure drop to revascularize the particular vessel segment and form second pressure drops associated with the coronary vessel tree. The invention determines an index indicative of vascular function based, at least in part, on a comparison between the first pressure drops and the second pressure drops.

In representative refinements, individual pressure drops are determined using resistances associated with individual vessel segments. Alternatively, individual pressure drops are determined using flow information associated with individual vessel segments, including flow information associated with a branch that includes the individual vessel segment. The revascularization is modeled by adjusting the first pressure drop using geometry information associated with the particular vessel segment.

Claims Coverage

The provided patent content includes three independent claims: a computer-implemented method, non-transitory computer storage media, and a system. Across these independent claims, the inventive concept includes obtaining medical images of a coronary vessel tree, computing first pressure drops per vessel segment, adjusting pressure drops to revascularize a particular vessel segment to form second pressure drops, and determining an index indicative of vascular function from a comparison of the first and second pressure drops.

Taken together, the independent claims cover a workflow where medical images of a coronary vessel tree are used to compute segment-associated pressure drops, revascularization is modeled by adjusting a particular segment’s pressure drop to yield second pressure drops across the tree, and vascular function is quantified via an index based on comparing the two pressure-drop sets.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications