Background: Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) provides detailed hemodynamic information. However, the imaging interpretation is mainly based on the physician's experience and observation. We aimed to quantitatively study the peritherapeutic blood flow changes of a cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) treated by embolization using optical flow estimation on DSA.
Methods: A 37-year-old woman with an AVM in the right frontal lobe of her brain was enrolled. The optical flow method with a pixel-by-pixel measurement was applied to determine the blood flow in brain vessels on anterior-posterior and lateral DSA views before and after embolization.
Results: A return toward normalization of blood flow as a result of embolization was determined semiquantitatively on the posttherapeutic DSA.
Conclusions: Optical flow analysis on DSA illustrated the potential of quantifying intracranial blood flows in patients with cerebral vascular disorders and the therapeutic effects.
Copyright © 2012 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.