title: Analyzing the human liver vascular architecture by combining vascular corrosion casting and micro-CT scanning: a feasibility study.
abstract: Although a full understanding of the hepatic circulation is one of the keys to successfully perform liver surgery and to elucidate liver pathology, relatively little is known about the functional organization of the liver vasculature. Therefore, we materialized and visualized the human hepatic vasculature at different scales, and performed a morphological analysis by combining vascular corrosion casting with novel micro-computer tomography (CT) and image analysis techniques. A human liver vascular corrosion cast was obtained by simultaneous resin injection in the hepatic artery (HA) and portal vein (PV). A high resolution (110 μm) micro-CT scan of the total cast allowed gathering detailed macrovascular data. Subsequently, a mesocirculation sample (starting at generation 5; 88 × 68 × 80 mm³) and a microcirculation sample (terminal vessels including sinusoids; 2.0 × 1.5 × 1.7 mm³) were dissected and imaged at a 71-μm and 2.6-μm resolution, respectively. Segmentations and 3D reconstructions allowed quantifying the macro- and mesoscale branching topology, and geometrical features of HA, PV and hepatic venous trees up to 13 generations (radii ranging from 13.2 mm to 80 μm; lengths from 74.4 mm to 0.74 mm), as well as microvascular characteristics (mean sinusoidal radius of 6.63 μm). Combining corrosion casting and micro-CT imaging allows quantifying the branching topology and geometrical features of hepatic trees using a multiscale approach from the macro- down to the microcirculation. This may lead to novel insights into liver circulation, such as internal blood flow distributions and anatomical consequences of pathologies (e.g. cirrhosis).
authors.affiliation: Biofluid, Tissue and Solid Mechanics for Medical Applications, Institute Biomedical Technology, Department of Electronics and Information Systems, iMinds Future Health Department, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Debbaut
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Segers
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cornillie
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casteleyn
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dierick
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Laleman
authors.forename: Diethard
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monbaliu
mesh_terms: D016319:Corrosion Casting; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008102:Liver Circulation; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography
keywords: 3D reconstruction; hepatic vasculature; image processing; morphology; tree analysis