Computational mOdelliNg of myoCardial pERfusion to Improve ouTcome Prediction Based on cOronary Artery Stenosis and Atherosclerotic Plaque Burden Assessment by Computed Tomography

Detection of coronary stenosis is of utmost importance in identifying vulnerable patients. The combined use of coronary computed tomography angiography at rest (CCTA) and stress myocardial computed tomography perfusion (stress-CTP) provides both anatomic and functional analysis of coronary artery disease (CAD) using a single imaging test. Stress-CTP evaluates myocardial perfusion by measuring myocardial blood flow (MBF) under pharmacologically induced stress conditions. The drawback is that stress-CTP requires additional scanning and administration of an intravenous stressor with an increase in radiation exposure and potential stressor-related side effects. The investigators recently patented a computational model that can reproduce MBF under stress conditions (Italian patent n. 102021000031475 Metodo implementato mediante computer per la simulazione del flusso sanguigno miocardico in condizioni di stress [Computational method for simulating myocardial blood flow in stress conditions], half owned by Centro Cardiologico Monzino, half by Politecnico di Milano).

On top of this, CCTA can characterize plaque type and identify adverse plaque characteristics. Moreover, biomechanics analysis allows the study of luminal stenosis and stress within the plaque. Finally, radiomics, extracting quantitative features from medical images to create big data and identify novel imaging biomarkers, can be applied to improve the diagnostic accuracy of coronary plaques.