Patient-specific assessment of hemodynamic performance of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)
Early Stage Researcher: Selene Pirola
Host institution: IMPERIAL
Objectives
The ESR will work within a team of engineers engineers from IMPERIAL and clinicians from ICCH, to develop computational tools for patient-specific assessment of aortic blood flow patterns and biomechanical stresses following TAVI, by combining 4D cardiac MRI with CFD/FSI modelling.
These tools will be applied to patients who will undergo TAVI and surgical replacement of the aortic valve and root, respectively, in order to evaluate the pre- and post-operative aortic hemodynamics, and to determine the differences in hemodynamic performance between different procedures. The ESR will develop an effective CFD/FSI approach for quantitative analysis of blood flow and wall stress in the aorta including the aortic root, ascending aorta and the aortic arch. The CFD/FSI approach will be applied to patient-specific data acquired in vivo, in collaboration with Professor Thanos Athanasiou, a lead cardiologist in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, who has extensive experience in interventional cardiology.
Expected Results
The first comprehensive hemodynamic data on TAVI at the level of details never previously attempted. It will also be the first comparative study aimed at evaluating the physiological equivalence of TAVI to conventional aortic valve replacement procedures, which is essential for possible future extension of TAVI to a wider patient population.
