title: 3D Reconstruction of Chick Embryo Vascular Geometries Using Non-invasive High-Frequency Ultrasound for Computational Fluid Dynamics Studies.
abstract: Recent animal studies have provided evidence that prenatal blood flow fluid mechanics may play a role in the pathogenesis of congenital cardiovascular malformations. To further these researches, it is important to have an imaging technique for small animal embryos with sufficient resolution to support computational fluid dynamics studies, and that is also non-invasive and non-destructive to allow for subject-specific, longitudinal studies. In the current study, we developed such a technique, based on ultrasound biomicroscopy scans on chick embryos. Our technique included a motion cancelation algorithm to negate embryonic body motion, a temporal averaging algorithm to differentiate blood spaces from tissue spaces, and 3D reconstruction of blood volumes in the embryo. The accuracy of the reconstructed models was validated with direct stereoscopic measurements. A computational fluid dynamics simulation was performed to model fluid flow in the generated construct of a Hamburger-Hamilton (HH) stage 27 embryo. Simulation results showed that there were divergent streamlines and a low shear region at the carotid duct, which may be linked to the carotid duct's eventual regression and disappearance by HH stage 34. We show that our technique has sufficient resolution to produce accurate geometries for computational fluid dynamics simulations to quantify embryonic cardiovascular fluid mechanics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, #02-04, Singapore, 117575, Singapore.
authors.forename: Germaine Xin Yi
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, #02-04, Singapore, 117575, Singapore.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jamil
authors.affiliation: National Heart Research Institute of Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Nicole Gui Zhen
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Tee
authors.affiliation: National Heart Research Institute of Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.|Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, #02-04, Singapore, 117575, Singapore. bieyapc@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Choon Hwai
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yap
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D001810:Blood Volume; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D000069453:Ultrasonic Waves; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: Computational fluid dynamics; Embryonic and fetal cardiovascular fluid mechanics; High frequency ultrasound; Ultrasound image processing and segmentation