Accurate-BV – CAD for blood vessel analysis in breast reconstruction surgery

TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION

Accurate-BV is an image processing algorithm that automatically tracks and retrieves clinically relevant features from each perforator blood vessel within a volume of interest. Accurate-BV’s precision is at voxel-level (~1 mm) and the software calculates: calibre, tortuosity, exit point at fascia, subcutaneous course orientation, and intramuscular course length.
This CAD system extracts accurate and consistent characteristics of the analysed perforators, namely from the Deep Inferior Epigastric Artery (DIEA), enabling superior clinical outcomes based on objective findings.

BENEFITS

• Reduce DIEP flap surgery and recovery duration, as well as overall complications;
• Increase the quality of breast reconstruction and patients’ satisfaction;
• Avoid surgery rescheduling due to incorrect preoperative assessment of blood vessels
• Support analysis of perforator blood vessels, reducing radiologists’ workload and easing the tracking of blood vessels in regions of difficult evaluation (i.e., intramuscular).

LIMITATIONS

• Lower performance in regions with low contrast
• To further evaluate the error rate of this CAD in comparison to the interoperator variability among different radiologists
• Future work to develop a software that renders the detected vessels and displays them with the volume data

APPLICATIONS

• Preoperative planning of DIEP flap surgery
• Track and analyse tubular structures in large series of two-dimensional medical images

MATERIALS