Clinicians will soon have a better understanding of how to manage cerebral aneurysms, thanks to a European project that uses simulation software.
The @neurIST project, a European initiative that seeks to integrate biomedical informatics in the management of cerebral aneurysms, is using a simulation software from Canonsburg, Pa.-based ANSYS, Inc.
The project has combined simulation software and a series of linked tools called a "toolchain" to provide individualized aneurysm rupture predictions.
The toolchain combines diverse, independent tools into an integrated suite, in which the output of one tool becomes the input for the next. The resulting automated workflow brings together multiple strands of patient data - including CT scans, X-rays, angiograms and other routine test results - transforming them into 3-D representations that are the basis for dynamic simulations.
The simulations will be used by doctors, researchers and engineers at hospitals, universities and medical device companies to develop patient-specific treatments.
"There is a demonstrated need for the use of computer-based imaging and monitoring not just to diagnose disease, but also for patient-specific simulations to test alternative treatments," said Jim Cashman, president and chief executive officer at ANSYS, Inc. "@neurIST is a comprehensive example of this. It fuses diagnostic, modeling and simulation data into a coherent representation of a patient's condition."
Project partners are collecting and analyzing clinical data in expectation of developing best practices and, perhaps, identifying the underlying causes of the condition.
"The aim of the @neurIST project is to transform the management of the condition by providing new insight, personalized risk assessment and methods for the design of improved medical devices and enhanced treatment protocols, said Alejandro Frangi of Barcelona's Universitat Pompeu Fabra, which is coordinating the @neurIST project.
"This demonstration marks a major milestone within the project and is an important step on the way to personalized risk assessment, which could reduce unnecessary treatment by 50 percent or more, with resulting estimated savings of hundreds of millions of euros per annum," said Frangi. "Beyond financial benefits, the personal - and family - consequences of aneurysm rupture are devastating. We have exposed the toolchain to detailed evaluation by critical groups of clinicians and surgeons, and the response has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with over 8 out of 10 professionals expecting to see the system enter clinical service."
Picture courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.
