Koops, Roland (2019) Development, acquisition and analysis of soft and hard plaque containing coronary artery phantom for computed tomography. Master's Thesis / Essay, Biomedical Engineering.
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Coronary artery phantom design; development, acquisition and analysis of artificial coronary artery.pdf Download (2MB) | Preview |
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Abstract
Abstract Introduction Globally, atherosclerosis is one of the most deadly diseases (31% of global mortality).1 Atherosclerosis is a disease in the coronary arteries, where the vessel walls are affected by the build-up of lipid plaques or solid sheet-like deposits of calcium. Imaging and quantifying these calcifications enables risk stratification.2 Proper risk stratification results in adequate follow-up which can prevent disease progression. At the moment the CT-modalities are not used to their full potential for the quantification of coronary calcium. Therefore, the aim of this study is to design an anthropomorphic coronary artery calcium phantom which will provide the same values as the human body in CT-values but also result in similar CT-fingerprints. Which means that the atomic composition of the materials used is the same. This can be verified using CT-fingerprinting. Methods & Materials A literature study was performed as a first step in this study to verify the necessary materials for a anthropomorphic coronary artery. The criteria were that these articles had to be related to the coronary artery. With this criteria the different topics about atherosclerosis related to CT-imaging were looked into. So first the theory of the disease was looked into, after that the scoring method which is used for characterization of the calcium present in the coronary artery. Next, the present CT-modalities were looked into to be able to compare the properties of these modalities with the current way of characterization. At last was the research to current artificial coronary arteries which were reviewed to provide insight in what had to be improved about these phantoms. The smallest diameter is now 0.5mm for calcifications and the resolution of CT-scanners is already 0.25mm. So the calcifications should have a similar size as the resolution. Moreover, the build-up of atherosclerosis should be mimicked which is not done in current designs to make material decomposition possible. Most important is to make the new design anthropomorphic. Theresults obtained from new phantoms should be similar to results of human tissue. As the CT-modalities have improved, the possibilities of characterizing coronary calcifications has increased and has to be studied with a novel anthropomorphic coronary artery phantom as the current phantoms do not challenge the possibilities. Therefore, three different designs are made to be able to do this. During this study it was not possible to manufacture one of the designs, that is why a proof of concept was scanned. This consisted of a modified artificial soft plaque coronary artery with a hydroxyapatite plaque attached on the outside of this phantom with cling foil. This was done to include all the materials which are present in the design and be able to make a CT-fingerprint of these materials. An human carotid was scanned to compare the materials of the phantom with real human tissue. Results In Figure 1 is one of the main results depicted. Here can be seen that the materials used in a anthropomorphic soft plaque coronary artery do not comply with the human tissue what is present in the corresponding structures. Conclusion & Discussion From this study a new design for an artificial coronary artery is obtained, but from current phantoms which were scanned can be concluded that the anthropomorphic phantoms are not really anthropomorphic. The materials used have to be improved if new CT-modalities will be tested with phantoms.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Willemsen, A.T.M. |
| Degree programme: | Biomedical Engineering |
| Thesis type: | Master's Thesis / Essay |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Aug 2019 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Aug 2019 07:57 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/20641 |
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