Method and system for quantifying limitations in coronary artery blood flow during physical activity in patients with coronary artery disease

A method for determining an activity level recommendation for a patient, the method comprising:

• receiving data describing a geometry of at least a portion of a patient's heart;
• identifying a cardiac event and a blood flow characteristic threshold value associated with the cardiac event;
• determining a three-dimensional model representing the geometry of at least the portion of the patient's heart based on the received data;
• determining, using the at least one computer system, a physics-based model of blood flow through the three-dimensional model, the physics-based model including a resistance of blood flow at the patient's myocardium;
• simulated at a selected level of physical activity of the patient;
• modeling the flow of blood through the three-dimensional model using the physics-based model of blood flow through the three-dimensional model simulated at the selected level of physical activity;
• calculating, from the modeled flow of blood through the three-dimensional model simulated at the selected level of physical activity, a value of a blood flow characteristic within the patient's heart at the selected level of physical activity;
• updating the physics-based model of blood flow by iteratively reducing the resistance to blood flow at the patient's myocardium and recalculating the value of the blood flow characteristic through each updated physics-based model, until the recalculated value exceeds the blood flow characteristic threshold value associated with the cardiac event;
• determining, based on one or more stored patient activities classified according to intensity level, a classification of patient activity intensity level corresponding to the physics-based model at which the recalculated value exceeded the blood flow characteristic threshold value associated with the cardiac event;
• and
• generating an activity level recommendation based on the determined classification of the patient activity intensity level.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for use on at least one computer system containing computer-executable programming instructions for determining an activity level recommendation for a patient, the method comprising:

• receiving data describing a geometry of at least a portion of a patient's heart;
• identifying a cardiac event and a blood flow characteristic threshold value associated with the cardiac event;
• determining a three-dimensional model representing the geometry of at least the portion of the patient's heart based on the received data;
• determining a physics-based model of blood flow through the three-dimensional model, the physics-based model including a resistance of blood flow at the patient's myocardium;
• simulated at a selected level of physical activity of the patient;
• modeling the flow of blood through the three-dimensional model using the physics-based model of blood flow;
• calculating, from the modeled flow of blood through the three-dimensional model simulated at the selected level of physical activity, a value of a blood flow characteristic within the patient's heart at the selected level of physical activity;
• updating the physics-based model of blood flow by iteratively reducing the resistance to blood flow at the patient's myocardium and recalculating the value of the blood flow characteristic through each updated physics-based model, until the recalculated value exceeds the blood flow characteristic threshold value associated with the cardiac event;
• determining, based on one or more stored patient activities classified according to intensity level, a classification of patient activity intensity level corresponding to the physics-based model at which the recalculated value exceeded the blood flow characteristic threshold value associated with the cardiac event;
• and
• generating an activity level recommendation based on determined classification of the patient activity intensity level.