Combined Visualization of Wall Thickness and Wall Shear Stress for the Evaluation of Aneurysms

For an individual rupture risk assessment of aneurysms, the aneurysm's wall morphology and hemodynamics provide valuable information. Hemodynamic information is usually extracted via computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation on a previously extracted 3D aneurysm surface mesh or directly measured with 4D phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging. In contrast, a non-invasive imaging technique that depicts the aneurysm wall in vivo is still not available. Our approach comprises an experiment, where intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is employed to probe a dissected saccular aneurysm phantom, which we modeled from a porcine kidney artery. Then, we extracted a 3D surface mesh to gain the vessel wall thickness and hemodynamic information from a CFD simulation. Building on this, we developed a framework that depicts the inner and outer aneurysm wall with dedicated information about local thickness via distance ribbons. For both walls, a shading is adapted such that the inner wall as well as its distance to the outer wall is always perceivable. The exploration of the wall is further improved by combining it with hemodynamic information from the CFD simulation. Hence, the visual analysis comprises a brushing and linking concept for individual highlighting of pathologic areas. Also, a surface clustering is integrated to provide an automatic division of different aneurysm parts combined with a risk score depending on wall thickness and hemodynamic information. In general, our approach can be employed for vessel visualization purposes where an inner and outer wall has to be adequately represented.