Xiaolin Sun and Yimeng Hao contributed equally to this manuscript and share first authorship. Heartfelt appreciation is extended to all who contributed to this work, both past and present members. This work was supported by grants from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, EXIST - Transfer of Research (03EFIBE103). Xiaolin Sun and Yimeng Hao are supported by the China Scholarship Council (Xiaolin Sun- CSC: 201908080063, Yimeng Hao-CSC: 202008450028).

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The authors declare no conflict of interests.

To date, this is the first study to illustrate a patient-specific measurement of the morphology and dynamic parameters of RVOT-PA with a straightened cardiac model generated from a 4D CT sequence, which can be applied to predict the optimal valve size for TPVR. This methodology wasillustrated using sheep J Pre-CT imaging to obtain the dynamic deformations, right ventricular volumes, right ventricular function, and magnitude of RVOT/PA change from the RVOT to the pulmonary trunk in five planes at every 10% reconstruction ...

Dysfunction of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and pulmonary valve abnormalities are two of the most frequent consequences of severe congenital heart disease, for example, patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), certain types of double outlet right ventricle (DORV), and transposition of the great arteries1,2,3. The majority of these patients face multiple operations throughout their lives and along with advancing age, the risks of complexity and comorbidities increase. These patients may benefit from transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR) as a minimally invasive treatment4. To date, there has been a steady growth in the number of patients undergoing TPVR and several thousands of these procedures have been performed worldwide. Compared with traditional open-heart surgery, TPVR requires a more accurate anatomical measurement of the xenograft or homograft from the right ventricle (RV) to pulmonary artery (PA), as well as the repair of pulmonary and RVOT stenosis via transannular patch, by computed tomography angiography (CTA) prior to intervention and to ensure that the patients are free from stent fracture and paravalvular leak (PVL)5,6.
A prospective, multicenter study demonstrated that a multidetector CT annular sizing algorithm played an important role in selecting the appropriate valve size, which could decrease the degree of paravalvular regurgitation7. In recent years, quantitative analysis has been more and more applied in clinical medicine. Quantitative analysis has enormous potential to enable objective and correct interpretation of clinical imaging and to verify that patients are free of stent fracture and paravalvular leak, which can enhance patient-specific therapy and treatment response evaluation. In previous clinical practice, it was feasible to reconstruct CT imaging from three planes (sagittal, coronal, and axial) with two-dimensional (2D) CT to obtain a visualization model8. Contrast-enhanced electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated CT has become more important in the evaluation of RVOT/PA 3D morphology and function, as well as in the identification of patients with a suitable RVOT implantation site that is capable of maintaining TPVR stability throughout the cardiac cycle9,10.
However, in the contemporary standard clinical and preclinical settings, the acquired 4D CT data are usually translated into 3D planes for manual quantification and visual evaluation which cannot show 3D/4D dynamic information11. Furthermore, even with 3D information, the measurements obtained from multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) have various limitations, such as poor quality of visualization and lack of dynamic deformation due to the different directions of blood flow in the right heart12. Measurements are time-consuming to gather and prone to mistakes, as 2D alignment and sectioning can be imprecise, resulting in misinterpretation and distensibility. Currently, there is no consensus on which measurement of RVOT-PA could reliably provide accurate information about the indications and valve sizing for TPVR in patients with dysfunctional RVOT and/or pulmonary valve disease.
In this study, the method for measuring RVOT-PA using a straightened right heart model via a 4D cardiac CT sequence is provided to determine how best to characterize the 3D deformations of RVOT-PA throughout the cardiac cycle. The spatio-temporal correlation imaging was completed by including the temporal dimension and, therefore, were able to measure variations in RVOT-PA magnitude. Additionally, the deformation of the straightened models could positively impact TPVR valve sizing and procedural planning.

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			<td>GraphPad Software Inc.</td>
			<td>Version 9.0</td>
			<td>Versatile statistics software</td>
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			<td>Imeron 400 MCT</td>
			<td>Bracco Imaging</td>
			<td>PZN00229978</td>
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			<td>Ketamine</td>
			<td>Actavis Group PTC EHF</td>
			<td>ART.-Nr. 799-762</td>
			<td>2&#8211;5 mg/kg/h</td>
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			<td>Midazolam</td>
			<td>Hameln pharma plus GMBH</td>
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			<td>Siemens AG</td>
			<td>A91CT-01892-03C2-7600</td>
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			<td>B. Braun Melsungen AG</td>
			<td>PZN 11164495</td>
			<td>20mg/ml, 1&#8211;2.5 mg/kg</td>
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			<td>B. Braun Melsungen AG</td>
			<td>PZN 11164443</td>
			<td>10mg/ml, 2.5&#8211;8.0 mg/kg/h</td>
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			<td>Safety IV Catheter with Injection port</td>
			<td>B. Braun Melsungen AG</td>
			<td>LOT: 20D03G8346</td>
			<td>18 G Catheter with Injection port</td>
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			<td>3D Slicer</td>
			<td>Slicer</td>
			<td>Slicer 4.13.0-2021-08-13</td>
			<td>Software: 3D Slicer image computing platform</td>
		</tr>
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four-dimensional computed tomography-guided valve sizing for transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement

The measurements of the right ventricle (RV) and pulmonary artery (PA), for selecting the optimal prosthesis size for transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR), vary considerably. Three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) imaging for device size prediction is insufficient to assess the displacement of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and PA, which could increase the risk of stent misplacement and paravalvular leak. The aim of this study is to provide a dynamic model to visualize and quantify the anatomy of the RVOT to PA over the entire cardiac cycle by four-dimensional (4D) cardiac CT reconstruction to obtain an accurate quantitative evaluation of the required valve size. In this pilot study, cardiac CT from sheep J was chosen to illustrate the procedures. 3D cardiac CT was imported into 3D reconstruction software to build a 4D sequence which was divided into eleven frames over the cardiac cycle to visualize the deformation of the heart. Diameter, cross-sectional area, and circumference of five imaging planes at the main PA, sinotubular junction, sinus, basal plane of the pulmonary valve (BPV), and RVOT were measured at each frame in 4D straightened models prior to valve implantation to predict the valve size. Meanwhile, dynamic changes in the RV volume were also measured to evaluate right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF). 3D measurements at the end of the diastole were obtained for comparison with the 4D measurements. In sheep J, 4D CT measurements from the straightened model resulted in the same choice of valve size for TPVR (30 mm) as 3D measurements. The RVEF of sheep J from pre-CT was 62.1 %. In contrast with 3D CT, the straightened 4D reconstruction model not only enabled accurate prediction for valve size selection for TPVR but also provided an ideal virtual reality, thus presenting a promising method for TPVR and the innovation of TPVR devices.

In sheep J, the 4D total heart and right heart models were successfully generated from the 4D cardiac CT sequence which showed the deformation throughout the entire cardiac cycle. For better visualization, the whole deformation of the beating heart and right heart is exhibited in every direction in Figure 3 - Figure 4 and in Video 1 - Video 2.
The str...

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Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography-Guided Valve Sizing for Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement

This study assessed a new methodology with a straightened model generated from the four-dimensional cardiac computed tomography sequence to obtain the desired measurements for valve sizing in the application of transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement.

The measurements of the right ventricle (RV) and pulmonary artery (PA), for selecting the optimal prosthesis size for transcatheter pulmonary valve ...

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2.4K Views.  Charité University Medicine Berlin. This study assessed a new methodology with a straightened model generated from the four-dimensional cardiac computed tomography sequence to obtain the desired measurements for valve sizing in the application of transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement.