Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography-Guided Valve Sizing for Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement

Summary

This study assessed a new methodology with a straightened model generated from the four-dimensional cardiac computed tomography sequence to obtain the desired measurements for valve sizing in the application of transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement.

Abstract

The measurements of the right ventricle (RV) and pulmonary artery (PA), for selecting the optimal prosthesis size for transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR), vary considerably. Three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) imaging for device size prediction is insufficient to assess the displacement of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and PA, which could increase the risk of stent misplacement and paravalvular leak. The aim of this study is to provide a dynamic model to visualize and quantify the anatomy of the RVOT to PA over the entire cardiac cycle by four-dimensional (4D) cardiac CT reconstruction to obtain an accurate quantitative evaluation of the required valve size. In this pilot study, cardiac CT from sheep J was chosen to illustrate the procedures. 3D cardiac CT was imported into 3D reconstruction software to build a 4D sequence which was divided into eleven frames over the cardiac cycle to visualize the deformation of the heart. Diameter, cross-sectional area, and circumference of five imaging planes at the main PA, sinotubular junction, sinus, basal plane of the pulmonary valve (BPV), and RVOT were measured at each frame in 4D straightened models prior to valve implantation to predict the valve size. Meanwhile, dynamic changes in the RV volume were also measured to evaluate right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF). 3D measurements at the end of the diastole were obtained for comparison with the 4D measurements. In sheep J, 4D CT measurements from the straightened model resulted in the same choice of valve size for TPVR (30 mm) as 3D measurements. The RVEF of sheep J from pre-CT was 62.1 %. In contrast with 3D CT, the straightened 4D reconstruction model not only enabled accurate prediction for valve size selection for TPVR but also provided an ideal virtual reality, thus presenting a promising method for TPVR and the innovation of TPVR devices.

Introduction

Dysfunction of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and pulmonary valve abnormalities are two of the most frequent consequences of severe congenital heart disease, for example, patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), certain types of double outlet right ventricle (DORV), and transposition of the great arteries^1,2,3. The majority of these patients face multiple operations throughout their lives and along with advancing age, the risks of complexity and comorbidities increase. These patients may benefit from transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR) as a m....

Protocol

All cardiac CT data were obtained from GrOwnValve preclinical trials with the approval of the legal and ethical committee of the Regional Office for Health and Social Affairs, Berlin (LAGeSo). All animals received humane care in compliance with the guidelines of the European and German Societies of Laboratory Animal Science (FELASA, GV-SOLAS). In this study, the Pre-CT from sheep J was chosen to illustrate the procedures.

1. Perform 3D cardiac CT in sheep

1. Intravenous anesthesia
   1. Tranquilize sheep (3 years, 47 kg, female, Ovis aries) with premedication of midazolam (2 mg/mL, 0.4 mg/kg), butorp....

Results

In sheep J, the 4D total heart and right heart models were successfully generated from the 4D cardiac CT sequence which showed the deformation throughout the entire cardiac cycle. For better visualization, the whole deformation of the beating heart and right heart is exhibited in every direction in Figure 3 - Figure 4 and in Video 1 - Video 2.

The str.......

Discussion

To date, this is the first study to illustrate a patient-specific measurement of the morphology and dynamic parameters of RVOT-PA with a straightened cardiac model generated from a 4D CT sequence, which can be applied to predict the optimal valve size for TPVR. This methodology wasillustrated using sheep J Pre-CT imaging to obtain the dynamic deformations, right ventricular volumes, right ventricular function, and magnitude of RVOT/PA change from the RVOT to the pulmonary trunk in five planes at every 10% reconstruction .......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Adobe Illustrator	Adobe	Adobe Illustrator 2021	Graphics software
Butorphanol	Richter Pharma AG	Vnr531943	0.4mg/kg
Fentanyl	Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH	DE/H/1047/001-002	0.01mg/kg
Glycopyrroniumbromid	Accord Healthcare B.V	PZN11649123	0.011mg/kg
GraphPad Prism	GraphPad Software Inc.	Version 9.0	Versatile statistics software
Imeron 400 MCT	Bracco Imaging	PZN00229978	2.0–2.5 ml/kg
Ketamine	Actavis Group PTC EHF	ART.-Nr. 799-762	2–5 mg/kg/h
Midazolam	Hameln pharma plus GMBH	MIDAZ50100	0.4mg/kg
Multislice Somatom Definition Flash	Siemens AG	A91CT-01892-03C2-7600	Cardiac CT Scanner
Propofol	B. Braun Melsungen AG	PZN 11164495	20mg/ml, 1–2.5 mg/kg
Propofol	B. Braun Melsungen AG	PZN 11164443	10mg/ml, 2.5–8.0 mg/kg/h
Safety IV Catheter with Injection port	B. Braun Melsungen AG	LOT: 20D03G8346	18 G Catheter with Injection port
3D Slicer	Slicer	Slicer 4.13.0-2021-08-13	Software: 3D Slicer image computing platform