Method for assessing stenosis severity through stenosis mapping

Abstract

A method of assessing stenosis severity for a patient includes obtaining patient information relevant to assessing severity of a stenosis, including anatomical imaging data of the patient. Based on the anatomical imaging data, the existence of any lesions of concerns may be identified. A three dimensional image can be generated of any irregular shaped lesion of concern and a surrounding area from the patient anatomical imaging data. A plurality of comparative two dimensional lesion specific models may be created that have conditions that correspond to the three dimensional model. The comparative two dimensional models may represent vessels having regular shaped lesions with each of the comparative two dimensional models represents a different stenosis severity. The three dimensional model can then be mapped to one of the plurality of comparative two dimensional models. After this mapping, a diagnosis of whether the patient has coronary artery disease may be made.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of assessing stenosis severity for a patient, comprising:
 obtaining patient information relevant to assessing stenosis severity of, including anatomical imaging data of the patient;   identifying the existence of any lesions of concern in a vessel from the anatomical imaging data that have an irregular shape;   generating a three dimensional model from the patient anatomical imaging data of at least one lesion of concern within the vessel, wherein three dimensional model includes a vessel inlet, the at least one lesion of concern, and at least one vessel outlet;   creating a plurality of comparative two dimensional lesion specific models having conditions that correspond to the three dimensional model, wherein each of the plurality of comparative two dimensional models represents a vessel having regular shaped lesions with a different level of stenosis severity;   mapping the three dimensional model to one two dimensional model of the plurality of comparative two dimensional models;   deriving a quantitative measure of stenosis severity of the patient's coronary artery disease based on the mapped two dimensional model.