Menu
Job Title
Trainee
Academic Rank
Staff/Research Assistant
Department
Surgery
Authors
Sandra Haltmeier, Amir Rouhollahi, Jake Awtry, Kim de la Cruz, Farhad R. Nezami
Principal Investigator
Farhad R. Nezami
Categories
Tags
Aortic aneurysms pose a significant health risk due to their potential to rupture, leading to life-threatening internal bleeding. Close monitoring of aneurism growth empowers clinicians to make informed decisions regarding the timing of available risk-reducing interventions. The aortic growth rate, alongside the aneurysm diameter, constitutes a primary parameter within treatment planning guidelines. Yet, current methods to extract them from two temporally separated computer tomography scans at predetermined locations are radiologist-dependent, manual, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Thus, we introduce an AI-powered tool that automatically extracts aortic diameters at different time points, quantifies aortic growth rates along both the ascending and descending aorta, and provides an interactive digital environment for the clinical community, enhancing visualizations of the growth rates. Within just five minutes, this tool performs aorta segmentation, centerlines extraction, and diameter measurement for initial and follow-up scans. Centerline co-registration then facilitates direct calculation of the aortic growth rate. Validation within a limited cohort showcased efficiency and accuracy. Notable advantages include reduced processing time, increased accuracy, intuitive visualizations, and potential for large-scale studies. Integration into imaging packages could enable real-time mapping, while predictive insights might refine treatment criteria. Overall, the tool presents a transformative approach for assessing and monitoring aortic aneurysm.
Aortic aneurysms, weak spots that enlarge blood vessels, are serious health concerns because they could burst and cause dangerous internal bleeding. Doctors closely watch how these aneurysms grow to decide when to take action to lower the risks. One important way to measure their growth is by looking at how big the aorta is and how quickly it is growing. But right now, the methods to measure this are slow, need experts, and might produce mistakes. That is why we have developed a smart computer tool that does this job much faster and more accurately. It uses AI to automatically track changes in aneurysm size over time so doctors can make better decisions about future treatment. Our tool works with images taken at different times, can measure the aorta’s size and how fast it is growing, and is super quick, taking only about five minutes. It even creates simple interactive visualization that doctors can use, and patients can easily understand. If added to scanning machines, it has the potential to keep track of things in real time, which might change how doctors diagnose medical issues. We have tested this program on a small group of patients, and it worked perfectly.
