Our objectives span across the three leveled research strategy of our project involving the development of cloud based AI algorithms as tools for better clinical decision making, to improve outcomes in ACS patients, while developing new molecular and CT angiography based tools to assess cardiovascular risk in ACS patients.
The main objectives of our project are detailed below
To develop, test and deploy an extensible, cloud-based platform for clinical decision support in ACS patients
A complex solution will be developed addressing user management (authentication, authorization), data handling, fast data processing, zero-foot print apps that allow data visualization and data insight, and fault tolerant services. Since the majority of services rely on GPU-based processing a methodology for GPU instance orchestration in the cloud will be implemented.
To develop, test and deploy tools for coronary plaque assessment based on medical imaging data
The project will develop and integrate tools for automatically assessing various aspects related to coronary plaque, like composition (lipid (cholesterol, fatty acids, etc.), calcified, necrotic, fibrous, etc.) and susceptibility to plaque rupture (e.g. large lipid core, thin fibrous cap with little collagen fibers, cap thickness < 65μm, large ratio of plaque area occupied by lipid components vs. fibromuscular components). Various imaging modalities will be considered: OCT, CT, XA.
To develop, test and deploy tools for anatomical and non-invasive functional CAD assessment
The project will develop and integrate tools for automated assessment of the anatomical severity of coronary lesions (e.g. percentage diameter stenosis), and for non-invasive functional CAD assessment. The non-invasive functional assessment focuses on computing various diagnostic indices which are clinically measured invasively, but which have been shown to be reliably predicted from medical images alone (e.g. FFR, rest Pd/Pa, IFR). A tool for assessing the wall shear stress, as a quantity directly related to the initiation, progression and rupture of coronary plaque will be integrated.
To develop, test and deploy a risk score for non-culprit coronary stenoses in ACS patients
The project will develop a new risk score for assessing the vulnerability of non-culprit coronary lesion in ACS patients, providing a direct indication for treatment. Since in routine clinical workflows not all data types and measurements displayed in will be always available, a multitude of risk scores will be developed, to be applied for various subsets of data types.
Data acquisition in the clinical trials
Two clinical trials will be conducted during the course of project. The main trial will collect highly heterogeneous data prospectively. Secondly, once all technical developments have been finalized, the usability and clinical integration capability of the cloud-based platform will be tested in a small scale study enrolling further 20 patients during the course of 3 months.
