Quantitative Portal Vein Velocity of Liver Cancer Patients with Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization on Angiography

Abstract

Objective. We applied optical flow method (OFM) to quantify relative velocities of blood flow using digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the vascular analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) treatment. Methods. A total of 40 HCC patients treated by TACE were analyzed in this study. DSA imaging with a 12-inch field of view, 1024 × 1024 pixels and 4 frames/second was acquired. OFM developed for motion estimation is applied for blood flow estimation. Two acrylic phantoms were built to validate the method. Results. The relationship between the OFM and Doppler measurements was found linear with R 2 = 0.99 for both straight and curved tube phantoms. Quantitative blood flow distribution images of the portal vein region were presented. After TACE, the minimum, maximum and mean velocities in the portal vein all decreased (P < 0.05). Additionally, the velocity in the portal vein is significantly lower with a higher Child-Pugh score (P < 0.01). Conclusions. The present technique provides add-on quantitative information of flows to DSA and the hemodynamic analysis in relative quantifications of blood flow in portal vein of hepatocellular carcinoma patients using DSA.

Quantification of Blood Flow in Internal Cerebral Artery by Optical Flow Method on Digital Subtraction Angiography in Comparison with Time-Of-Flight Magnetic Resonance Angiography

“…The spatial accuracy of the blood flow estimation, which was calculated by the OFM, was reported [19]–[20]. We previously applied the OFM to measure the relative velocities of blood flow using angiography and investigated the vascular effects on hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization [21]. The calculated velocity as determined by the OFM was compared with the Doppler ultrasound measurement and the results were consistent [21].…”

“…We previously applied the OFM to measure the relative velocities of blood flow using angiography and investigated the vascular effects on hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization [21]. The calculated velocity as determined by the OFM was compared with the Doppler ultrasound measurement and the results were consistent [21]. We also performed an optical flow analysis on the DSA to illustrate the potential calculation of intracranial blood flow in patients with cerebral vascular disorders and its therapeutic effects [22].…”

Ventricular hemodynamics using cardiac computed tomography and optical flow method

“…The 3D OFM program for hemodynamic estimation was validated in previous studies that compared the OFM measurements with computational fluid dynamics simulation, angiography, Doppler ultrasound and MRA [26][27][28][29]. Miscalculations were acquired by OFM when the subject was in rapid motion.…”