title: Abdominal aortic aneurysms: virtual imaging and analysis through a remote web server.
abstract: The study describes the application of a web-based software in the planning of the endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). The software has been developed in the framework of a 2-year research project called Aneurysm QUAntification Through an Internet Collaborative System (AQUATICS); it allows to manage remotely Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) models of the abdominal aorta, derived from multirow computed tomography angiography (CTA) data sets, and to obtain measurements of diameters, angles and centerline lengths. To test the reliability of measurements, two radiologists performed a detailed analysis of multiple 3D models generated from a synthetic phantom, mimicking an AAA. The system was tested on 30 patients with AAA; CTA data sets were mailed and the time required for segmentation and measurement were collected for each case. The Bland-Altman plot analysis showed that the mean intra- and inter-observer differences in measures on phantoms were clinically acceptable. The mean time required for segmentation was 1 h (range 45-120 min). The mean time required for measurements on the web was 7 min (range 4-11 min). The AQUATICS web server may provide a rapid, standardized and accurate tool for the evaluation of AAA prior to the endovascular treatment.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Department of Oncology, Transplants, and Advanced Technologies in Medicine, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, 56100, Pisa, Italy. neri@med.unipi.it
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Neri
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bargellini
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giachetti
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vignali
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tuveri
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jaschke
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartolozzi
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D012984:Software; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted; D014584:User-Computer Interface