Patient-specific simulation for stent deployment from intravascular OCT – VSTENT

The objective of the project is to simulate in real time the deployment of metallic stents in coronary arteries during catheterization, using patient-specific data extracted from intraoperative images. The aim of the simulation is to avoid under-deployment or over-deployment which are respectively at the origin of short-term thrombus or long-term restenosis risks. The geometry of the arterial wall and the composition of the atheromatous plaques that influence the outcome of the deployment will be reconstructed in 3D from endovascular imaging by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) coupled with angiography. The cardiology department of the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital has one of the largest databases of endovascular OCT examinations (over 1500 patients). The main challenge is to identify the patient-specific mechanical properties of often heterogeneous plaques from the visual properties of the tissue observed in OCT. The identification is based on the measurement of wall deformations and the estimation of associated stresses imposed by the stent. In vitro experiments are planned to validate the estimation and the final result of the simulation. Reduced order and Machine Learning models will be used at different stages of the project to move towards real-time. New clinical indices will be produced to predict the short and medium term outcome of the procedure.