Towards optimal flow diverter porosity for the treatment of intracranial aneurysm.

Purpose: Low-porosity endovascular stents, known as flow diverters (FDs), have been proposed as an effective and minimally invasive treatment for sidewall intracranial aneurysms (IAs). Although it has been reported that the efficacy of a FD is substantially influenced by its porosity, clinical doctors would clearly prefer to do their interventions optimally based on refined quantitative data. This study focuses on the association between the porosity configurations and the FD efficacy, in order to provide practical data to help the clinical doctors optimize the interventions.

A physical description of the adhesion and aggregation of platelets.

The early stages of clot formation in blood vessels involve platelet adhesion-aggregation. Although these mechanisms have been extensively studied, gaps in their understanding still persist. We have performed detailed experiments, using the well-known Impact-R device, and developed a numerical model to better describe and understand this phenomenon.

Does the gravity orientation of saccular aneurysms influence hemodynamics? An experimental study with and without flow diverter stent.

Most intracranial aneurysms morphologic studies focused on characterization of size, location, aspect ratio, relationship to the surrounding vasculature and hemodynamics. However, the spatial orientation with respect to the gravity direction has not been taken into account although it could trigger various hemodynamic conditions. The present work addresses this possibility.

Multilevel segmentation of intracranial aneurysms in CT angiography images.

Purpose: Segmentation of aneurysms plays an important role in interventional planning. Yet, the segmentation of both the lumen and the thrombus of an intracranial aneurysm in computed tomography angiography (CTA) remains a challenge. This paper proposes a multilevel segmentation methodology for efficiently segmenting intracranial aneurysms in CTA images.

Quantitative analysis of platelets aggregates in 3D by digital holographic microscopy.

Platelet spreading and retraction play a pivotal role in the platelet plugging and the thrombus formation. In routine laboratory, platelet function tests include exhaustive information about the role of the different receptors present at the platelet surface without information on the 3D structure of platelet aggregates. In this work, we develop, a method in Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) to characterize the platelet and aggregate 3D shapes using the quantitative phase contrast imaging.

MR derived volumetric flow rate waveforms of internal carotid artery in patients treated for unruptured intracranial aneurysms by flow diversion technique.

Little is known about the hemodynamic disturbances induced by the cerebral aneurysms in the parent artery and the effect of flow diverter stents (FDS) on these latter. A better understanding of the aneurysm-parent vessel complex relationship may aid our understanding of this disease and to optimize its treatment. The ability of volumetric flow rate (VFR) waveform to reflect the arterial compliance modifications is well known.

An in vitro test bench reproducing coronary blood flow signals.

Background: It is a known fact that blood flow pattern and more specifically the pulsatile time variation of shear stress on the vascular wall play a key role in atherogenesis. The paper presents the conception, the building and the control of a new in vitro test bench that mimics the pulsatile flows behavior based on in vivo measurements.

Methods: An in vitro cardiovascular simulator is alimented with in vivo constraints upstream and provided with further post-processing analysis downstream in order to mimic the pulsatile in vivo blood flow quantities.

Determination of a shear rate threshold for thrombus formation in intracranial aneurysms.

Background: Particular intra-aneurysmal blood flow conditions, created naturally by the growth of an aneurysm or induced artificially by implantation of a flow diverter stent (FDS), can potentiate intra-aneurysmal thrombosis. The aim of this study was to identify hemodynamic indicators, relevant to this process, which could be used as a prediction of the success of a preventive endovascular treatment.

Method: A cross sectional study on 21 patients was carried out to investigate the possible association between intra-aneurysmal spontaneous thrombus volume and the dome to neck aspect ratio (AR) of the aneurysm.

Myeloperoxidase oxidized LDL interferes with endothelial cell motility through miR-22 and heme oxygenase 1 induction: possible involvement in reendothelialization of vascular injuries.

Cardiovascular disease linked to atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death worldwide. Atherosclerosis is mainly linked to dysfunction in vascular endothelial cells and subendothelial accumulation of oxidized forms of LDL. In the present study, we investigated the role of myeloperoxidase oxidized LDL (Mox-LDL) in endothelial cell dysfunction.

High-resolution MRI visualization of aneurysmal thrombosis after flow diverter stent placement.

Flow-diverter stents are the new promising tools in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms allowing progressive aneurysm occlusion. Here, we report a case where high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging showed thrombus at fundus of the aneurysm sac, indicating a progressive intraaneurysmal thrombosis after flow-diverter placement.

Segmentation of the thrombus of giant intracranial aneurysms from CT angiography scans with lattice Boltzmann method.

Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) plays an essential role in the diagnosis, treatment evaluation, and monitoring of cerebral aneurysms. Segmentation of CTA medical images of giant intracranial aneurysms (GIA) provides quantitative measurements of thrombus and aneurysms geometrical characteristics allowing 3D reconstruction. In fact, GIA demonstrated neuroradiological features and propensity of partial or total spontaneous intra-aneurysmal thrombosis generating a thrombus.

Estimation of the viscoelastic properties of vessel walls using a computational model and Doppler ultrasound.

Human arteries affected by atherosclerosis are characterized by altered wall viscoelastic properties. The possibility of noninvasively assessing arterial viscoelasticity in vivo would significantly contribute to the early diagnosis and prevention of this disease. This paper presents a noniterative technique to estimate the viscoelastic parameters of a vascular wall Zener model.

Noninvasive Young's modulus evaluation of tissues surrounding pulsatile vessels using ultrasound Doppler measurement.

This paper presents an indirect approach to estimating the mechanical properties of tissues surrounding the arterial vessels using ultrasound (US) Doppler measurements combined with an inverse problem-solving method. The geometry of the structure and the dynamic behavior of the inner fluid are first evaluated using a novel dual-beam US system. A numerical phantom associated with a parametric finite element simulator that calculates the hydrodynamic pressure and the displacement on the walls' boundaries is then built.