Dr. Daniel H. Sahlein and co-authors recently published a retrospective study using the AI-enabled aneurysm measurement tool Rapid Surgical Preview to calculate intracranial aneurysm volume and surface area. The study found that the software was more sensitive to changes in aneurysm size than manual linear measurement.
Key takeaways
- The study discussed found that AI-enabled volumetric measurement detected aneurysm growth that manual linear measurement missed.
- Volumetric and surface-area measurements can provide additional information about changes in aneurysm size and morphology over time.
- Longitudinal measurement data may help clinicians and researchers better study aneurysm growth and rupture risk.
The findings have important implications for clinical practice, particularly for aneurysm patients managed conservatively. Dr. Sahlein, Dr. Alex Spiotta and Dr. Greg Albers discussed the paper and the potential impact of Rapid Surgical Preview in a RapidAI Research Series webinar.
Significance of the Rapid Surgical Preview volumetric tracking features
When treating an intracranial aneurysm, physicians weigh treatment risks against patient history and factors associated with rupture risk, including smoking, prior aneurysm rupture, family history, aneurysm growth and irregular shape.
Changes in aneurysm size and morphology are important to follow over time, but a single linear maximum dimension may not fully reflect an aneurysm's changing or irregular shape. Smaller aneurysms can also be difficult to measure consistently.
Dr. Sahlein's publication showed that the AI-enabled measurement tool detected changes in aneurysm size that were missed by manual linear measurement. The peer-reviewed study reported increases in maximum size, volume and surface area across the five aneurysms evaluated before rupture.
Rapid Surgical Preview creates a personalized 3D model of the vasculature from patient imaging and provides measurements that can be compared over time. It calculates volumetric and surface-area measurements in addition to maximum size, giving clinicians another way to assess aneurysm growth and morphology.
Figure 1. Sagittal CTA maximum intensity projections from the initial exam (A) and 1 year later (B). Rapid Aneurysm outputs of the initial (C) and 1-year scans (D), side by side. (E) This panel shows the initial and 1-year scans overlaid, demonstrating aneurysm growth. Image source http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jnis-2022-019339
The future of aneurysm management
Several questions remain when aneurysm patients are managed conservatively, including when a change in size or morphology is substantial enough to affect treatment decisions.
Dr. Sahlein and Dr. Spiotta noted that larger data sets collected with volumetric tools could help researchers study the dynamic nature of aneurysms and address questions that remain difficult to answer with linear measurements alone.
Watch the RapidAI Research Series webinar to learn more about the study and Rapid Surgical Preview. You can also read the published correspondence on the implications of the findings.
