Automated transcatheter heart valve 4DCT-based deformation assessment throughout the cardiac cycle: Towards enhanced long-term durability.

BACKGROUND

Transcatheter heart valve (THV) durability is a critical concern, and its deformation may influence long-term performance. Current assessments rely on CT-based single-phase measurements and require a tedious analysis process, potentially overlooking deformation dynamics throughout the cardiac cycle.

METHODS

A fully automated artificial intelligence-based method was developed to assess THV deformation in post-transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) 4DCT scans. The approach involves segmenting the THV, extracting orthogonal cross-sections along its axis, fitting ellipses to these cross-sections, and computing eccentricity to analyze deformation over the cardiac cycle.

RESULTS

The method was evaluated in 21 TAVI patients with different self-expandable THV models, using one post-TAVI 4DCT series per patient. The THV inflow level exhibited the greatest eccentricity variations (0.35-0.69 among patients with the same THV model at end-diastole). Additionally, eccentricity varied throughout the cardiac cycle (0.23-0.57), highlighting the limitations of single-phase assessments in characterizing THV deformation.

CONCLUSIONS

This method enables automated THV deformation assessment based on cross-sectional eccentricity. Significant differences were observed at the inflow level, and cyclic variations suggest that full cardiac cycle analysis provides a more comprehensive evaluation than single-phase measurements. This approach may aid in optimizing THV durability and function while preventing related complications.