Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital and Children Hospital, National Taiwan University, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 10;13(1):11135. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-38233-3.
Graph theory can be used to address problems with complex network structures. Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) involve complex abnormal connections between chambers, vessels, and organs. We proposed a new method to represent CHDs based on graph theory, wherein vertices were defined as the spaces through which blood flows and edges were defined by the blood flow between the spaces and direction of the blood flow. The CHDs of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and transposition of the great arteries (TGA) were selected as examples for constructing directed graphs and binary adjacency matrices. Patients with totally repaired TOF, surgically corrected d-TGA, and Fontan circulation undergoing four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were included as examples for constructing the weighted adjacency matrices. The directed graphs and binary adjacency matrices of the normal heart, extreme TOF undergoing a right modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, and d-TGA with a ventricular septal defect were constructed. The weighted adjacency matrix of totally repaired TOF was constructed using the peak velocities obtained from 4D flow MRI. The developed method is promising for representing CHDs and may be helpful in developing artificial intelligence and conducting future research on CHD.
图论可用于解决复杂网络结构的问题。先天性心脏病（CHD）涉及心腔、血管和器官之间复杂的异常连接。我们提出了一种基于图论的新方法来表示 CHD，其中顶点定义为血流通过的空间，边则由空间之间的血流和血流方向定义。法洛四联症（TOF）和大动脉转位（TGA）的 CHD 被选为构建有向图和二进制邻接矩阵的示例。完全修复的 TOF、手术矫正的 d-TGA 和接受四维（4D）血流磁共振成像（MRI）的 Fontan 循环的患者被选为构建加权邻接矩阵的示例。构建了正常心脏、右改良 Blalock-Taussig 分流术的极重度 TOF 和伴有室间隔缺损的 d-TGA 的有向图和二进制邻接矩阵。使用 4D 血流 MRI 获得的峰值速度构建了完全修复的 TOF 的加权邻接矩阵。该方法有望用于表示 CHD，并可能有助于开发人工智能和对 CHD 进行未来研究。
