Juliana Robayo
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Prabhvir Singh Marway
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Department of Radiology / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Juliana Robayo, Prabhvir Marway, Nicholas Burris
Session: Session 7: 4:40 pm – 5:30 pm
Poster: 27
Abstract
Growth in ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (aTAA) increases the risk of dissection and death. However it is unknown if aneurysms grow at a steady rate or vary greatly throughout surveillance, which has important implications in disease management. Current clinical methods to measure aTAA suffer from significant measurement variability (3-5mm), making it difficult to accurately detect growth (median 0.2mm/year). Vascular deformation mapping (VDM) allows for precise (sub-millimeter) and reliable measurements to assess how growth in aTAA may vary throughout follow-up. 50 patients with a diagnosis of aTAA were identified. All available aortic imaging for each patient was reviewed for quality (motion artifact and resolution), and clinical aortic diameter measurements were recorded where available. Images were segmented using an in-house neural network, and VDM analysis was performed. Growth rates for the ascending aorta were extracted using Paraview and compared to clinical measurements. Cases were classified as having either consistent growth (<0.5mm/year difference between intervals) or varied growth (>=0.5mm/year difference between intervals). From 50 patients, 44 had >=3 scans for 2 or more distinct intervals to be compared, with a total of 240 scans and 196 non-overlapping intervals. The mean baseline maximal ascending diameter was 42.8mm (SD 4.6) . The growth rate from clinical measurements was 0mm/year (IQR -0.5 – 0.9), whereas from VDM it was 0.17mm/year (IQR 0.10 – 0.33). By CT measurements, 30/44 cases (68%) were classified as having varied growth, versus only 14 cases with consistent growth, within overall surveillance. Overall, growth of an ascending aneurysm varies across time with periods of high growth and low growth in the same patient, emphasizing the importance of close and accurate imaging surveillance in patients with aTAA.
