Analyzing the human liver vascular architecture by combining vascular corrosion casting and micro-CT scanning: a feasibility study
Analyzing the human liver vascular architecture by combining vascular corrosion casting and micro-CT scanning: a feasibility study
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DOI：
10.1111/joa.12156
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发表时间：
2014-04-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Monbaliu, Diethard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Debbaut, Charlotte;Segers, Patrick;Monbaliu, Diethard
虽然充分了解肝循环是成功进行肝脏手术和阐明肝脏病理的关键之一，但对肝脏血管系统的功能组织知之甚少。因此，我们在不同尺度上对人体肝脏血管进行了实体化和可视化，并将血管腐蚀模型与新型微型计算机断层扫描（CT）和图像分析技术相结合进行了形态学分析。通过在肝动脉（HA）和门静脉（PV）中同时注射树脂获得人肝血管腐蚀铸型。一个高分辨率（110 μ m）微CT扫描的总管型允许收集详细的大血管数据。随后，解剖中循环样本（从第5代开始; 88 x 68 x 80 mm（3））和微循环样本（包括窦状隙的末端血管; 2.0 x 1.5 x 1.7 mm（3）），并分别以71 μ m和2.6 μ m的分辨率成像。分割和3D重建允许量化宏观和中尺度分支拓扑结构，HA，PV和肝静脉树的几何特征多达13代（半径范围从13.2 mm到80 μ m;长度从74.4 mm到0.74 mm），以及微血管特征（平均正弦半径为6.63 μ m）。结合腐蚀铸型和显微CT成像，可以使用从宏观到微循环的多尺度方法量化肝树的分支拓扑结构和几何特征。这可能会导致对肝脏循环的新见解，例如内部血流分布和病理学（例如肝硬化）的解剖学后果。
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 mu m) micro-CT scan of the total cast allowed gathering detailed macrovascular data. Subsequently, a mesocirculation sample (starting at generation 5; 88 x 68 x 80 mm(3)) and a microcirculation sample (terminal vessels including sinusoids; 2.0 x 1.5 x 1.7 mm(3)) were dissected and imaged at a 71-mu m and 2.6-mu m 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 mu m; lengths from 74.4 mm to 0.74 mm), as well as microvascular characteristics (mean sinusoidal radius of 6.63 mu m). 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).