# US 10,499,990 B2 · Systems and methods for assessing organ and/or tissue transplantation by simulating one or more transplant characteristics

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- Number: US 10,499,990 B2
- Document ID: US10499990B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/357,008
- Filed: 2016-11-21
- Published: 2017-05-25
- Granted: 2019-12-10
- Earliest claimed: 2015-11-23
- Assignees: HeartFlow, Inc.
- Applicants: HeartFlow, Inc.
- Inventors: Leo Grady; Charles A. Taylor; Christopher Zarins
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10499990B2

## CPC

- A61B 34/10: Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
- A61B 5/0263: {using NMR}
- A61B 6/032: {Transmission computed tomography [CT]}
- A61B 6/503: {for diagnosis of the heart}
- A61B 6/504: {for diagnosis of blood vessels, e.g. by angiography}
- A61B 8/06: Measuring blood flow
- G06F 30/20: Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30)
- G06T 7/0012: {Biomedical image inspection}
- G06T 7/11: Region-based segmentation
- G09B 9/00: Simulators for teaching or training purposes (for the use of weapons F41; computing aspects G06; {protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality H04L67/131})
- G09B 23/303: {specially adapted to simulate circulation of bodily fluids}
- G16H 50/50: for simulation or modelling of medical disorders
- A61B 2034/104: {Modelling the effect of the tool, e.g. the effect of an implanted prosthesis or for predicting the effect of ablation or burring}
- A61B 2034/105: {Modelling of the patient, e.g. for ligaments or bones}
- G06T 2207/10081: Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
- G06T 2207/10088: Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
- G06T 2207/10132: Ultrasound image
- G06T 2207/30048: Heart; Cardiac
- G06T 2207/30056: Liver; Hepatic
- G06T 2207/30084: Kidney; Renal
- G06T 2207/30104: Vascular flow; Blood flow; Perfusion
- G06T 2211/404: Angiography
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G09B: EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS (devices for psychotechnics or for testing reaction times A61B5/16; games, sports, amusements A63; projectors, projector screens G03B)
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA

## Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for assessing organ and/or tissue transplantation by estimating blood flow through a virtual transplant model by receiving a patient-specific anatomical model of the intended transplant recipient; receiving a patient-specific anatomical model of the intended transplant donor, the model including the vasculature of the organ or tissue that is intended to be transplanted to the recipient; constructing a unified model of the connected system post transplantation, the connected system including the transplanted organ or tissue from the intended transplant donor and the vascular system of the intended transplant recipient; receiving one or more blood flow characteristics of the connected system; assessing the suitability for an actual organ or tissue transplantation using the received blood flow characteristics; and outputting the assessment into an electronic storage medium or display.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A computer implemented method for assessing organ or tissue transplantation by estimating blood flow through a virtual transplant model, the method comprising:
receiving a patient-specific anatomical model of an intended transplant recipient, the patient-specific anatomical model being generated from image data and the patient-specific anatomical model including a vasculature of the intended transplant recipient that is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
receiving a donor-specific anatomical model of an intended transplant donor, the donor-specific anatomical model being generated from image data and the donor-specific anatomical model including a vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor that is designated to be transplanted to the intended transplant recipient;
constructing a unified geometric model of a connected system including at least some of the vasculature of the organ or tissue of the donor-specific anatomical model and at least some of the vasculature of the patient-specific anatomical model, where the vasculature of the patient-specific anatomical model is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
estimating blood flow through the unified geometric model to compute a blood flow characteristic of the blood flow through the connected system;
evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristic; and
outputting the evaluation into an electronic storage medium or display.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, prior to constructing the unified geometric model, one or more blood flow characteristics of one or more of:
the vasculature of the intended transplant recipient designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue based on the patient-specific anatomical model, or
the vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor based on the donor-specific anatomical model; and
outputting the received one or more blood flow characteristics, prior to constructing the unified geometric model, to an electronic storage medium.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the blood flow characteristic includes, one or more of:
a blood pressure at one or more points in the patient-specific anatomical model, the donor-specific anatomical model, or in the unified geometric model;
a fractional flow reserve values at one or more points in the patient-specific anatomical model, the donor-specific anatomical model, or in the unified geometric model;
a flow rate or flow velocity at one or more points in the patient-specific anatomical model, the donor-specific anatomical model, or in the unified geometric model;
a perfusion characteristic of an organ or tissue; and
a blood supply demand of an organ or tissue.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
computing one or more functional characteristics of the transplanted organ or tissue of the connected system; and
evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristic and functional characteristic(s).

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein a functional characteristic includes a characteristic that is specific to a performance of a transplanted organ or tissue, including, one or more of:
a cardiac output for an intended heart transplant;
a glomerular filtration rate for an intended kidney transplantation;
a clearance capacity for an intended liver transplantation; and
a tissue perfusion characteristic for an intended tissue transplantation.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein receiving one or more blood flow characteristics includes:
determining a mass of an organ, tissue, and/or vasculature, and
using an allometric relationship to estimate a blood supply demand characteristic.

### Claim 7 (depends on 2)

The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein receiving one or more blood flow characteristics includes:
performing a 3D or reduced order model fluid simulation on the patient-specific anatomical model or the donor-specific anatomical model, using a processor;
computing the blood flow characteristic at a point of the patient-specific anatomical model or at a point of the donor-specific anatomical model; and
outputting the computed blood flow characteristic prior to constructing the unified geometric model to an electronic storage medium.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein constructing a unified geometric model of the connected system includes determining a connection between the vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor and the vasculature of the intended transplant recipient designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein, evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristic includes, one or more of:
determining whether a blood flow characteristic at one or more points of the connected system meets a predetermined magnitude; and
determining whether a blood flow characteristic at one or more points of a connected system adversely affects the blood flow characteristic of an intact organ, tissue, and/or vasculature of the donor or recipient.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein, the patient-specific anatomical model and the donor-specific anatomical model are generated from image data.

### Claim 11 (depends on 4)

The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein, evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristic and functional characteristics includes determining indication of functioning of the transplanted organ or tissue in the connected system, based on the functional characteristics of the connected system.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein, evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristic includes, one or more of:
determining the risk or existence of vessel insufficiency, and
determining the risk or existence of threatened or failing organs.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein, receiving a patient-specific anatomical model includes, one or more of,
receiving one or more medical images from, one or more of, a computerized tomography (CT), coronary computerized tomography (cCT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, ultrasound imaging, or angiography;
segmenting the one or more received medical images into one or more voxels;
identifying the voxels of interest for the derivation of a patient-specific anatomical model;
deriving a patient-specific anatomical model from the identified voxels; and
outputting the derived model into an in an electronic storage medium.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the patient-specific anatomical model is a representation of any vascular system, subsystem, partial system, or anatomy, including, one or more of:
the cardiovascular system for an intended heart transplant;
the hepatic vasculature for an intended liver transplant;
the pulmonary vasculature for an intended lung transplant;
the internal thoracic artery, superior thyroid artery, and inferior thyroids for an intended thymus transplant;
the renal vasculature for an intended kidney transplant;
the visceral vasculature for an intended intestine transplant;
the pancreatic vasculature for an intended pancreas transplant; and
the vascular system supplying blood to a limb for an intended transplant of a limb.

### Claim 15

A system for assessing organ or tissue transplantation by estimating blood flow through a virtual transplant model, the system comprising:
a data storage device storing instructions for assessing organ or tissue transplantation by estimating blood flow through a virtual transplant model; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method including:
receiving a patient-specific anatomical model of an intended transplant recipient, the patient-specific anatomical model being generated from image data and the patient-specific anatomical model including a vasculature of the intended transplant recipient that is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
receiving a donor-specific anatomical model of an intended transplant donor, the donor-specific anatomical model being generated from image data and the donor-specific anatomical model including a vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor that is designated to be transplanted to the intended transplant recipient;
constructing a unified geometric model of a connected system including at least some of the vasculature of the organ or tissue of the donor-specific anatomical model and at least some of the vasculature of the patient-specific anatomical model, where the vasculature of the patient-specific anatomical model is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
estimating blood flow through the unified geometric model to compute one or more blood flow characteristics of the blood flow through the connected system;
evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristics; and
outputting the evaluation into an electronic storage medium or display.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The system of claim 15, further comprising:
receiving, prior to constructing the unified geometric model, one or more blood flow characteristics of one or more of:
the vasculature of the intended transplant recipient designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue based on the patient-specific anatomical model, or
the vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor based on the donor-specific anatomical model of the intended transplant donor; and
outputting the received one or more blood flow characteristics, prior to constructing the unified geometric model, to an electronic storage medium.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein receiving one or more blood flow characteristics includes:
determining a mass of the organ, tissue, and/or vasculature, and
using an allometric relationship to estimate a blood supply demand characteristic.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein receiving one or more blood flow characteristics includes:
performing a 3D or reduced order model fluid simulation on the patient-specific anatomical model or the donor-specific anatomical model using a processor;
computing the blood flow characteristic at a point of the patient-specific anatomical model or at a point of the donor-specific anatomical model; and
outputting the computed blood flow characteristic prior to constructing the unified geometric model to an electronic storage medium.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The system of claim 15, wherein, evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristics includes, one or more of:
determining whether a blood flow characteristic at one or more points of the connected system meets a standard magnitude;
determining whether a blood flow characteristic at one or more points of a connected system adversely affects the blood flow characteristic of an intact organ, tissue, and/or vasculature of the donor or recipient;
determining whether a blood flow characteristic at one or more points of the connected system match the blood flow characteristic for one or more points of the original vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor or the original vasculature of the intended transplant recipient that is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
determining indication of functioning of the transplanted organ or tissue in the connected system, based on functional characteristics of the connected system;
determining the risk or existence of large vessel insufficiency, and
determining the risk or existence of threatened or failing organs.

### Claim 20

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for assessing organ or tissue transplantation by estimating blood flow through virtual transplant model, the method including:
receiving a patient-specific anatomical model of an intended transplant recipient, the patient-specific anatomical model being generated from image data and the patient-specific anatomical model including a vasculature of the intended transplant recipient that is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
receiving a donor-specific anatomical model of an intended transplant donor, the donor-specific anatomical model being generated from image data and the donor-specific anatomical model including a vasculature of the organ or tissue of the intended transplant donor that is designated to be transplanted to the intended transplant recipient;
constructing a unified geometric model of a connected system including at least some of the vasculature of the organ or tissue of the donor-specific anatomical model and at least some of the vasculature of the patient-specific anatomical model, where the vasculature of the patient-specific anatomical model is designated to supply blood to the transplanted organ or tissue;
estimating blood flow through the unified geometric model to compute one or more blood flow characteristics of the blood flow through the connected system;
evaluating the planned transplantation using the computed blood flow characteristics; and
outputting the evaluation into an electronic storage medium or display.