סמינר מחלקה של ליטל אליהו - הערכת ההשפעה של סריקות CT ברזולוציה נמוכה על תוצאות ניתוח אלמנטים סופיים אוטונומיים של עצם הירך בחולי מיאלומה נפוצה: השלכות על ניטור התקדמות המחלה

School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Wednesday May 17.5.2023 at 14:00

Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

Assessing the Impact of Low-Resolution CT Scans on Autonomous Finite Element Analysis Results of Femurs

in Smoldering Multiple Myeloma Patients: Implications for Monitoring Disease Progression

Leetal Eliyahu

M.Sc. research under the supervision of Prof. Zohar Yosibash

Computational Mechanics & Experimental Biomechanics Lab

School of Mechanical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Multiple myeloma  (MM) is a hematological tumor that presents a significant challenge to curative treatment. In MM, plasma cells produce a substance that accelerates bone structure breakdown and is believed to weaken the bone. This weakening cannot be detected by visual inspection of computed tomography (CT) scans. MM patients undergo periodic whole-body low-dose (WBLD) CT scans to identify if a tumor is visible in their bones.

CT-based finite element analysis (CTFEA) is a powerful tool for predicting the biomechanical response of bones and monitoring bone-related diseases, including precursors to MM. These CTFEA were validated for high resolution (1mm slice thickness). However, the low-resolution WBLD CT scans used for MM patients (slice thickness of 3mm or greater) may affect the accuracy of CTFEA.

To allow the use of these WBLD CT scans for CTFEA, we first investigated the impact of these scans on the accuracy of the CTFEA applied to the patient’s femurs. We explored the CTFEA results, i.e. femur FE volume, geometry, load direction, and strain values at various femur locations for 1 to 3 mm slice thickness CT scans.  WBLD CT scans proved to be suboptimal for evaluating strain changes, but when changes in strain values exceed 5% along the bone or 12% in the femur superior neck area, CTFEA can distinguish the trend.

With this data, study conclusions were implemented on 7 MM patients who performed consecutive WBLD CT scans for at least 23 months to monitor the progress of the disease. We demonstrate that in five of the seven clinical study participants, CTFEA shows promising results for assessing the risk of dormant multiple myeloma progression.

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https://tau-ac-il.zoom.us/j/86497933118