Quantitative assessment of changes in hemodynamics of the internal carotid artery after bypass surgery for moyamoya disease.

OBJECTIVE Although intracranial vessel remodeling has been observed in moyamoya disease, concerns remain regarding the effect of bypass surgery on hemodynamic changes within the internal carotid artery (ICA). The authors aimed to quantify the surgical effect of bypass surgery on bilateral ICAs in moyamoya disease and to estimate pressure drop (PD) along the length of the ICA to predict surgical outcomes. METHODS Records of patients who underwent bypass surgery for treatment of moyamoya disease and in whom flow rates were obtained pre- and postsurgery by quantitative MR angiography were retrospectively reviewed. Quantitative MR angiography and computational fluid dynamics were applied to measure morphological and hemodynamic changes during pre- and postbypass procedures. The results for vessel diameter, volumetric flow, PD, and mean wall shear stress along the length of the ICA were analyzed. Subgroup analysis was performed for the circle of Willis (CoW) configurations. RESULTS Twenty-three patients were included. The PD in ICAs on the surgical side (surgical ICAs) decreased by 21.18% (SD ± 30.1%) and increased by 11.75% (SD ± 28.6%) in ICAs on the nonsurgical side (contralateral ICAs) (p = 0.001). When the PD in contralateral ICAs was compared between patients with a complete or incomplete CoW, the authors found that the PDI in the former group decreased by 2.45% and increased by 20.88% in the latter (p = 0.05). Regression tests revealed that a greater postoperative decrease in PD corresponded to shrinking of ICAs (R2 = 0.22, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS PD may be used as a reliable biomechanical indicator for the assessment of surgical treatment outcomes. The vessel remodeling characteristics of contralateral ICA were related to CoW configurations.

Assessing surgical treatment outcome following superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery bypass based on computational haemodynamic analysis.

To estimate haemodynamic modification of Internal Carotid Artery (ICA) after bypass surgery using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technology and thereby aid in our understanding of the influence of hemodynamic parameters on the outcomes of bypass operations. 18 patients who underwent superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery bypass and encephaloduromyosynangiosis (EDMS) surgery were included. Reconstructed three-dimensional vessel geometries from MRA were segmented to create computational domains for CFD simulations. All cases were classified as three groups according to the proportion of the MCA area of distribution supplied by revascularization: A, more than two thirds; B, between two-thirds and one-third; and C, less than one-third of the MCA distribution. Pre-operative and follow-up haemodynamic parameters, especially volume flow rate and pressure drop index (PDI) in ICA were compared. For all cases, PDI and volume flow rate in the surgical-side ICA decreased significantly at follow-up (P<0.05). For the cases of group A, volume flow rate in surgical-side ICA decreased by average 24.2%, whilst for the cases of group B and C, flow rate reduced by 10.5% and 3.7%, respectively. An average PDI for cases in group A was -1.67mmHg, conversely average PDI values of group B and C were -0.53 and 0.82mmHg, respectively. The remodelling of ICA after bypass was associated with reduction in the volume flow rate and pressure drop. Good correlation with angiographic grading suggested that CFD might play a critical role as a quantitative haemodynamic technique for predicting treatment outcome during the follow-up of MMD patients.

The influence of flow diverter's angle of curvature across the aneurysm neck on its haemodynamics.

Flow diverter stents have provided a new method of endovascular reconstruction for large and complex aneurysms. Understanding the impact of the flow diverter's angle of curvature across the neck and its metal coverage rate on the haemodynamics of aneurysm is crucial to maximize the mass flow reduction inside the aneurysm, post-deployment. The aim of this study is to understand the correlation between the angle of curvature of flow diverter across the aneurysm neck and the metal coverage rate, and the aneurysm's haemodynamics, using computational fluid dynamics. Varying the flow diverter angle resulted in varying metal coverage rate across the aneurysm neck for two patient vessel geometries, A (straight artery) and B (curved artery) with aspect ratios of 3.1 and 2.9, respectively. The results indicate that there exists a relationship between the aneurysm's haemodynamics and the flow diverter's angle of curvature across its neck. Moreover, the calculations indicated that cases with a moderately curved flow diverter, with an associated metal coverage rate of 50%-60%, achieve maximum flow reduction inside the aneurysm due to a stable flow resistance in the direction normal to the blood flow.

Identification of a hemodynamic parameter for assessing treatment outcome of EDAS in Moyamoya disease.

This work is a novel attempt to incorporate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques in the analysis of hemodynamic parameters of Moyamoya disease (MMD). Highly prevalent in Asian countries, MMD is characterised by progressive occlusion of the intracranial Internal Carotid Arteries (ICA). We intend to identify a reliable hemodynamic parameter that can be used to gauge treatment outcome. This will aid surgeons in the perioperative management of MMD patients. We carried out CFD analysis on eight patients (5 female, 3 male) with MMD treated by EDAS (encephalo-duro-arterio-synangiosis) between 2011 and 2012. All the eight patients presented with haemorrhage, with subsequent 4-12 month follow-up done using Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) to capture auto-remodelling. We calculated percentage change in flow rate and pressure drop indicator (ΡDI) across the Left and Right ICA. Pressure drop indicator (PDI) is defined as the difference of pressure reduction within the carotid arteries, measured at post-op and follow up, using patient specific inflow rates. The measured percentage flow change and pressure reduction showed an increase at follow up for improved patients (characterised by angiography according to the method of Matsushima), who did not develop any complications after surgery. The inverse was observed in patients who were clinically classified as no change and retrogressed (according to the method of Matsushima) cases post-operation. This elucidates that our findings have instituted a new parameter that may well play a critical role as an assistive clinical decision making tool in MMD.

Hemodynamic analysis of renal artery stenosis using computational fluid dynamics technology based on unenhanced steady-state free precession magnetic resonance angiography: preliminary results.

This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology in analysis of renal artery stenosis (RAS) based on unenhanced MR angiography (MRA). Thirty hypertensive patients with unilateral RAS, and 10 normal volunteers, underwent unenhanced MRA on a 1.5 T MR scanner. 12 of 30 patients also underwent ultrasound (US) to detect peak systolic velocity. The patient-specific CFD based on MRA was carried out thereafter. Stenosis grades and hemodynamic variables at the stenosis of main renal artery, including pressure difference (PD), velocity and mass flow rate (MFR), were analysed. And the hemodynamic indices of stenoses were compared with the parameters of normal renal arteries and available US velocity profile. High intraclass correlation coefficient (value 0.995) and no significant difference (p > 0.05) was shown between maximum velocity of CFD and peak systolic velocity of US in 12 patients. For normal renal arteries, the average PD, velocity and MFR were all in the reported normal physiological range. However, for stenotic arteries, the translesional PD and velocity of main renal arteries increased with the severity of stenotic degrees, while the MFR decreased. 50 % diameter stenosis was the threshold at which all three hemodynamic parameters experienced significant changes (p < 0.01). This preliminary study shows that unenhanced-MRA-based CFD can be utilized to noninvasively analyse hemodynamic parameters of RAS. The acquired variables may provide meaningful information regarding stratification of the stenosis and further therapeutic treatment.