Error Propagation in the Simulation of Atherosclerotic Plaque Growth and the Prediction of Atherosclerotic Disease Progression
Antonis I. Sakellarios,
Panagiotis Siogkas,
Vassiliki Kigka,
Panagiota Tsompou,
Dimitrios Pleouras,
Savvas Kyriakidis,
Georgia Karanasiou,
Gualtiero Pelosi,
Sotirios Nikopoulos,
Katerina K. Naka,
Silvia Rocchiccioli,
Lampros K. Michalis,
Dimitrios I. Fotiadis
Affiliations
Antonis I. Sakellarios
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Panagiotis Siogkas
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Vassiliki Kigka
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Panagiota Tsompou
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Dimitrios Pleouras
Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Savvas Kyriakidis
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Georgia Karanasiou
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Gualtiero Pelosi
Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Sotirios Nikopoulos
Department of Cardiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Katerina K. Naka
Department of Cardiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Silvia Rocchiccioli
Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Lampros K. Michalis
Department of Cardiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Dimitrios I. Fotiadis
Department of Biomedical Research, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology—FORTH, University Campus of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Assessments of coronary artery disease can be achieved using non-invasive computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA). CTCA can be further used for the 3D reconstruction of the coronary arteries and the development of computational models. However, image acquisition and arterial reconstruction introduce an error which can be propagated, affecting the computational results and the accuracy of diagnostic and prognostic models. In this work, we investigate the effect of an imaging error, propagated to a diagnostic index calculated using computational modelling of blood flow and then to prognostic models based on plaque growth modelling or binary logistic predictive modelling. The analysis was performed utilizing data from 20 patients collected at two time points with interscan period of six years. The collected data includes clinical and risk factors, biological and biohumoral data, and CTCA imaging. The results demonstrated that the error propagated and may have significantly affected some of the final outcomes. The calculated propagated error seemed to be minor for shear stress, but was major for some variables of the plaque growth model. In parallel, in the current analysis SmartFFR was not considerably affected, with the limitation of only one case located into the gray zone.
