Vascular amounts and dispersion of caliber-classified vessels as key parameters to quantitate 3D micro-angioarchitectures in multiple myeloma experimental tumors

Establishment of Standard Human Blood Vessel Model Based on Image Registration and Fitting Technology

Purpose

The blood vessel gives key information for pathological changes in a variety of diseases. In view of the crucial role of blood vessel structure, the present study aims to establish a digital human blood vessel standard model for diagnosing blood vessel-related diseases.

Methods

The present study recruited eight healthy volunteers, and reconstructed their bilateral upper extremity arteries according to CTA. The reconstructed vessels were segmented, registered, and merged into a bunch. After being cut by continuous cut planes, the dispersion of the blood vessel bunches on each cut plane were calculated.

Results

The results demonstrated that the middle segment of the brachial artery, the proximal segment of the ulnar artery, and the middle and distal segments of the radial artery had a low degree of dispersion. A standard blood vessel model was finally established by the integral method using the low-dispersion segments above. The accuracy of the standard blood vessel model was also verified by an actual contralateral vessel, which revealed that the deviation between the model and the actual normal contralateral brachial artery was relatively small.

Conclusion

The structure of the model was highly accordant with the real ones, which can be of great help in evaluating the blood vessel changes in blood vessel-related diseases, bone and soft-tissue tumors, and creating accurate surgical plans.

Quantification of Tumor Vasculature by Analysis of Amount and Spatial Dispersion of Caliber-Classified Vessels

This protocol focuses on the quantitative description of the angioarchitecture of experimental tumor xenografts. This semiautomatic analysis is carried out on functional vessels and microvessels acquired by confocal imaging and processed into progressively reconstructed angioarchitectures following a caliber-classification step. The protocol can be applied also to the quantification of pathological angioarchitectures other than tumor grafts as well as to the microvasculature of physiological tissue samples.

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Quantitative Assessment of Macular Neovascularization in Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy

Purpose

To describe quantitative characteristics of macular neovascularization (MNV) in vitelliform macular dystrophy (VMD) patients by means of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods

The study design was a prospective case series. All patients underwent complete ophthalmologic assessment, optical coherence tomography, and OCTA. The quantitative OCTA parameters examined included vessel tortuosity and vessel dispersion of the MNV. The primary outcome was OCTA characterization of MNV in VMD. Secondary outcomes included the evolution of MNV over the follow-up.

Results

A total of 78 eyes were recruited for the study. MNV was identified in 50 eyes (64%) at baseline and in 51 eyes (65%) at the end of the follow-up (mean follow-up, 24.7 ± 9.7 months). MNV was detected in four out of the 30 eyes classified as stages 2 and 3 (13%), showing exudative manifestations and undergoing ranibizumab treatment, leading to clinical stabilization. OCTA detected MNV in 46 out of 48 eyes (96%) classified as stages 4 and 5, showing no evidence of exudative manifestation. All of the non-exudative MNVs were merely observed over the follow-up and received no treatment. At the end of the follow-up, 47 out of 48 eyes displayed MNV (98%). Non-exudative MNVs remained stable over the follow-up. Statistically significant differences were found when comparing vessel tortuosity and vessel dispersion in the two MNV subforms.

Conclusions

VMD is characterized by two MNV subforms. Exudative MNV is rare and may develop in the early stages of the disease, in association with bleeding and fluid formation. Non-exudative MNV develops very commonly in the advanced stage of VMD, without any exudative manifestation.

Quantitative Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Parameters in Type 1 Macular Neovascularization Secondary to Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to study type 1 macular neovascularization (MNV) quantitative optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography (OCTA) features by means of advanced postprocessing analyses.

Methods

We recruited patients affected by naïve type 1 MNV secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and age-matched controls. All patients underwent ophthalmologic examination and multimodal imaging. They were treated with pro-re-nata anti-VEGF injections. The ensuing follow-up lasted 24 months. Quantitative OCT and OCTA parameters were statistically analyzed to obtain cutoff values able to distinguish two clinically different patient subgroups. Main outcome measures were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness, vessel density of superficial, deep and choriocapillaris plexa, vessel tortuosity (VT) of MNV, vessel dispersion of MNV, number of injections, blooding, pigment epithelium detachment, subretinal fluid, photoreceptor elongation, subretinal fibrosis, and outer retinal atrophy.

Results

Ninety-one eyes (91 patients; 49 men; mean age 78 ± 7 years) and 91 control eyes were included. Mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) BCVA was 0.46 ± 0.56 at baseline, increasing up to 0.29 ± 0.30 after 2 years of treatment (P < 0.01). The mean number of intravitreal injections was 7.1 ± 2.0 during the first year and 4.5 ± 1.4 during the second year. A baseline VT cutoff of 8.40 detected two patients’ subgroups differing significantly in terms of BCVA improvement after 2 years of treatment.

Conclusions

OCTA-based classification of type 1 MNV, performed at baseline, provided useful information in terms of the functional outcome achievable after 24 months of anti-VEGF treatment.

Translational Relevance

Quantitative OCTA-based classification of type 1 MNV, performed at baseline, provided useful information in terms of the functional outcome achievable after 24 months of anti-VEGF treatment.

Quantification of 3D Brain Microangioarchitectures in an Animal Model of Krabbe Disease

We performed a three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the microvascular network of the cerebral cortex of twitcher mice (an authentic model of Krabbe disease) using a restricted set of indexes that are able to describe the arrangement of the microvascular tree in CD31-stained sections. We obtained a near-linear graphical "fingerprint" of the microangioarchitecture of wild-type and twitcher animals that describes the amounts, spatial dispersion, and spatial relationships of adjacent classes of caliber-filtered microvessels. We observed significant alterations of the microangioarchitecture of the cerebral cortex of twitcher mice, whereas no alterations occur in renal microvessels, which is keeping with the observation that kidney is an organ that is not affected by the disease. This approach may represent an important starting point for the study of the microvascular changes that occur in the central nervous system (CNS) under different physiopathological conditions.