Non-invasive hemodynamic analysis for aortic regurgitation using computational fluid dynamics and deep learning
This work addresses the need for non-invasive, accurate hemodynamic analysis in patients with aortic regurgitation, though it is incremental as it builds on previous methods.
The paper tackled the problem of insufficient spatial resolution in 4D flow MRI for analyzing aortic regurgitation hemodynamics by using computational fluid dynamics and deep learning to generate super-resolution images, resulting in decreased velocity error and high structural similarity scores with an upsample factor of 4.
Changes in cardiovascular hemodynamics are closely related to the development of aortic regurgitation, a type of valvular heart disease. Metrics derived from blood flows are used to indicate aortic regurgitation onset and evaluate its severity. These metrics can be non-invasively obtained using four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where accuracy is primarily dependent on spatial resolution. However, insufficient resolution often results from limitations in 4D flow MRI and complex aortic regurgitation hemodynamics. To address this, computational fluid dynamics simulations were transformed into synthetic 4D flow MRI data and used to train a variety of neural networks. These networks generated super resolution, full-field phase images with an upsample factor of 4. Results showed decreased velocity error, high structural similarity scores, and improved learning capabilities from previous work. Further validation was performed on two sets of in-vivo 4D flow MRI data and demonstrated success in de-noising flow images. This approach presents an opportunity to comprehensively analyse aortic regurgitation hemodynamics in a non-invasive manner.