Virtual angiography using CFD simulations based on patient-specific parameter optimization

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of blood flow within intracranial aneurysms may provide important hemodynamic information for treatment planning. However, reliable validation is required prior to applications in clinical environments. For that purpose, we introduce a workflow for generating virtual digital subtraction angiographies (DSA) based on CFD results and real patient-individual contrast injection protocols. This allows for comparing virtual and acquired DSA and thus drawing first conclusions about the reliability of the CFD simulation. Due to the possibility of simulating arbitrary x-ray system angulations, both mechanically impossible angulations as well as multiple projection views are representable using the proposed virtual DSA workflow.