Systems and methods for treatment planning based on plaque progression and regression curves

A system for evaluating a patient with vascular disease, the system comprising:

• a data storage device storing instructions for evaluating a patient with vascular disease;
• and
• a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method including:
• receiving patient-specific image data regarding a geometry of the patient's vasculature;
• creating, based on the received patient-specific image data, a patient-specific anatomic model representing a diseased region of the patient's vasculature at a first point of time;
• computing a plaque type using one or more image features of the received patient-specific image data;
• predicting, using the computed plaque type, a change to a geometric parameter of the at a second point of time;
• modifying a geometry of the patient-specific anatomic model to include the predicted change to the geometric parameter of the diseased region at the second point in time;
• and
• computing a value of a blood flow characteristic using the modified patient-specific anatomic model.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for use on a computer system containing computer-executable programming instructions for performing a method of evaluating a patient with vascular disease, the method comprising:

• receiving patient-specific image data regarding a geometry of the patient's vasculature;
• creating, based on the received patient-specific image data, a patient-specific anatomic model representing a diseased region of the patient's vasculature at a first point of time;
• computing a plaque type using one or more image features of the received patient-specific image data;
• predicting, using the computed plaque type, a change to a geometric parameter of the diseased region of the patient's vasculature at a second point of time;
• modifying a geometry of the patient-specific anatomic model to include the predicted change to the geometric parameter of the diseased region at the second point in time;
• and
• computing a value of a blood flow characteristic modified patient-specific anatomic model.