Validation of an in-silico modelling platform for outcome prediction in spring assisted posterior vault expansion.

Background: Spring-Assisted Posterior Vault Expansion has been adopted at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK to treat raised intracranial pressure in patients affected by syndromic craniosynostosis, a congenital calvarial anomaly which causes premature fusion of skull sutures. This procedure aims at normalising head shape and augmenting intracranial volume by means of metallic springs which expand the back portion of the skull. The aim of this study is to create and validate a 3D numerical model able to predict the outcome of spring cranioplasty in patients affected by syndromic craniosynostosis, suitable for clinical adoption for preoperative surgical planning.

Prevalence and consequences of noncardiac incidental findings on preprocedural imaging in the workup for transcatheter aortic valve implantation, renal sympathetic denervation, or MitraClip implantation.

Background: Dedicated data on the prevalence of incidental findings (IF) stratified according to overall clinical relevance and their subsequent correlation to outcome are lacking. The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence and consequences of noncardiac IF on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging in the workup for interventional cardiovascular procedures.

Methods: A total of 916 patients underwent preprocedural computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging in the workup for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), renal sympathetic denervation (RDN), or MitraClip implantation.