3:38 PM Abstract No. 169 - Rabbit kidney and liver microvasculature database for embolization simulation

Abstract

Purpose To construct an anatomical microvasculature database for morphological and hemodynamic simulation to study dynamics during embolization. Materials and Methods Kidneys and livers from 3 adult New Zealand rabbits were perfused with radio-opaque Microfil (MV-122, Flow Tech, Inc, Carver, MA) through the arteries. 3D vasculatures on the kidney and liver samples were acquired using Siemens Inveon Micro-CT with tiered resolutions down to 9 μm. The multi-resolution scans of each sample were stitched and reconstructed into a single 3D volume. Histological sections were obtained from partial blocks of the samples. Both 3D volume images and histological sections were analyzed using software developed under Matlab. This software extracts quantitative morphological parameters such as branch diameter, central line coordinator, branch length, and parent-children branching angle. All these parameters associated with 3D reconstruction of the micro vessels were imported into the online morphological vasculature database server. A web user interface was designed for researchers to generate 3D visualization on desired portion of the vasculature. Results Image volumes with different resolutions were successfully assembled through overlapping regions to form the vascular network. 3D reconstruction of micro-CT volume preserved the actual anatomical arrangement of the microvasculature. The database has an online query interface which provides the user options. The options include the sample type, the start root branch size, the ending level, the chosen vasculature 3D visualization, level-branch relationship tree mapping, branch diameter/length statistics, and the parent-children branching angle statistics. The desired vasculature like the central line coordinator and mean diameter can be exported. Conclusion A vasculature database was built based on actual rabbit renal and hepatic vascular network down to microvasculature. The morphology and spatial structure of microvasculature of rabbit kidney and liver can be generated as 3D vascular networks for hemodynamic simulation for arterial embolization.