Cardiovascular Imaging for Guiding Interventional Therapy in Structural Heart Diseases

Author(s):  
Nora Rat ◽  
Iolanda Muntean ◽  
Diana Opincariu ◽  
Liliana Gozar ◽  
Rodica Togănel ◽  
...  

Development of interventional methods has revolutionized the treatment of structural cardiac diseases. Given the complexity of structural interventions and the anatomical variability of various structural defects, novel imaging techniques have been implemented in the current clinical practice for guiding the interventional procedure and for selection of the device to be used. Three– dimensional echocardiography is the most used imaging method that has improved the threedimensional assessment of cardiac structures, and it has considerably reduced the cost of complications derived from malalignment of interventional devices. Assessment of cardiac structures with the use of angiography holds the advantage of providing images in real time, but it does not allow an anatomical description. Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) and intracardiac ultrasonography play major roles in guiding Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) or Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure and device follow-up, while TEE is the procedure of choice to assess the flow in the Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) and the embolic risk associated with a decreased flow. On the other hand, contrast CT and MRI have high specificity for providing a detailed description of structure, but cannot assess the flow through the shunt or the valvular mobility. This review aims to present the role of modern imaging techniques in pre-procedural assessment and intraprocedural guiding of structural percutaneous interventions performed to close an ASD, a PFO, an LAA or a patent ductus arteriosus.

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ai-Ho Liao ◽  
Li-Yen Chen ◽  
Wen-Fang Cheng ◽  
Pai-Chi Li

Small-animal models are used extensively in disease research, genomics research, drug development and developmental biology. The development of noninvasive small-animal imaging techniques with adequate spatial resolution and sensitivity is therefore of prime importance. In particular, multimodality small-animal imaging can provide complementary information. This paper presents a method for registering high-frequency ultrasonic (microUS) images with small-animal positron-emission tomography (microPET) images. Registration is performed using six external multimodality markers, each being a glass bead with a diameter of 0.43–0.60 mm, with 0.1 μl of [18F]FDG placed in each marker holder. A small-animal holder is used to transfer mice between the microPET and microUS systems. Multimodality imaging was performed on C57BL/6J black mice bearing WF-3 ovary cancer cells in the second week after tumor implantation and rigid-body image registration of the six markers was also performed. The average registration error was 0.31 mm when all six markers were used and increased as the number of markers decreased. After image registration, image segmentation and fusion are performed on the tumor. Our multimodality small-animal imaging method allows structural information from microUS to be combined with functional information from microPET, with the preliminary results showing it to be an effective tool for cancer research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoqiang Zhao ◽  
Shiyong Li ◽  
Bailing Ren ◽  
Qingwei Qiu ◽  
Houjun Sun

Millimeter-wave (MMW) imaging techniques have been used for the detection of concealed weapons and contraband carried by personnel. However, the future application of the new technology may be limited by its large number of antennas. In order to reduce the complexity of the hardware, a novel MMW imaging method based on compressive sensing (CS) is proposed in this paper. The MMW images can be reconstructed from the significantly undersampled backscattered data via the CS approach. Thus the number of antennas and the cost of system can be further reduced than those based on the traditional imaging methods that obey the Nyquist sampling theorem. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by numerical simulations as well as by real measured data of objects.


Author(s):  
Evangelos Boutsianis ◽  
Thomas Frauenfelder ◽  
Simon Wildermuth ◽  
Dimos Poulikakos ◽  
Yiannis Ventikos

The pulsatile blood flow field in a patient-specific pathology of a large Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is being simulated, both pre and post interventionally. The anatomies of the aortic wall and blood lumen have been derived by digitized Computerized Tomography (CT) scans. Three dimensional unsteady computational fluid dynamics simulations have provided a comprehensive collection of quantitative information on the haemodynamics and the flow features that present themselves in both the temporal and spatial spaces. The focus lies on alterations in the haemodynamics triggered by the interventional procedure itself, which consists of the endoluminal introduction of a stent-graft. Significant information may also be deduced concerning the hydrodynamic loading of such implants. Computational tools of this nature, along with the non-invasive CT or Magnetic Resonance (MR) aortic imaging techniques, could enable an objective assessment of the possible effects of any interventional scenario in a virtual noninvasive environment both proximally and distally to the diseased region.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4825
Author(s):  
Ralph-Alexandru Erdelyi ◽  
Virgil-Florin Duma ◽  
Cosmin Sinescu ◽  
George Mihai Dobre ◽  
Adrian Bradu ◽  
...  

A correct diagnosis in dental medicine is typically provided only after clinical and radiological evaluations. They are also required for treatment assessments. The aim of this study is to establish the boundaries from which a modern, although established, imaging technique, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), is more suitable than the common X-ray radiography to assess dental issues and treatments. The most common methods for daily-basis clinical imaging are utilized in this study for extracted teeth (but also for other dental samples and materials), i.e., panoramic, intraoral radiography, and three-dimensional (3D) cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). The advantages of using OCT as an imaging method in dentistry are discussed, with a focus on its superior image resolution. Drawbacks related to its limited penetration depth and Field-of-View (FOV) are pointed out. High-quality radiological investigations are performed, measurements are done, and data collected. The same teeth and samples are also imaged (mostly) with an in-house developed Swept Source (SS)-OCT system, Master-Slave enhanced. Some of the OCT investigations employed two other in-house developed OCT systems, Spectral Domain (SD) and Time Domain (TD). Dedicated toolbars from Romexis software (Planmeca, Helsinki, Finland) are used to perform measurements using both radiography and OCT. Clinical conclusions are drawn from the investigations. Upsides and downsides of the two medical imaging techniques are concluded for each type of considered diagnosis. For treatment assessments, it is concluded that OCT is more appropriate than radiography in all applications, except bone-related investigations and periodontitis that demand data from higher-penetration depths than possible with the current level of OCT technology.


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