AI-powered automated model construction for patient-specific CFD simulations of aortic flows.

Abstract

Image-based modeling is essential for understanding cardiovascular hemodynamics and advancing the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Constructing patient-specific vascular models remains labor-intensive, error-prone, and time-consuming, limiting their clinical applications. This study introduces a deep-learning framework that automates the creation of simulation-ready vascular models from medical images. The framework integrates a segmentation module for accurate voxel-based vessel delineation with a surface deformation module that performs anatomically consistent and unsupervised surface refinements guided by medical image data. The integrated pipeline addresses key limitations of existing methods, enhancing geometric accuracy and computational efficiency. Evaluated on public datasets, it achieves state-of-the-art segmentation performance while substantially reducing manual effort and processing time. The resulting vascular models exhibit anatomically accurate and visually realistic geometries, effectively capturing both primary vessels and intricate branching patterns. In conclusion, this work advances the scalability and reliability of image-based computational modeling, facilitating broader applications in clinical and research settings.