Abstract:

The bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is a congenital heart defect in which the aortic valve has two cusps rather than three. Moderate to severe aortic regurgitation is the most common complication in young adult BAV patients and requires major, and often repeated, surgical intervention. BAV repair is an evolving surgical treatment for aortic regurgitation that preserves native valve tissue and circumvents risks and quality of life concerns associated with conventional aortic valve replacement in young adults. Despite promising clinical studies, however, BAV repair remains underutilized and there is substantial variability in surgical planning across institutions. In this talk, we discuss 3D and 4D computational image analysis methodologies that we are developing to gain new insights into valvular regurgitation and surgical treatment of the disease. These methodologies enable pre-operative visualization of valve morphology and motion, as well as automated quantification of metrics that are used to decide which surgical strategy is optimal for a patient’s valve. We will discuss how the advancement of image analysis, applied to modalities such as echocardiography and computed tomography, provides unique opportunities to standardize the surgical planning process and increase the utilization of repair as an alternative to valve replacement in young adults.