The role of computational fluid dynamics in the management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms: a clinicians' view

Objective: The importance of hemodynamics in the etiopathogenesis of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) is widely accepted./nComputational fluid dynamics (CFD) is being used increasingly for hemodynamic predictions. However, alogn with the/ncontinuing development and validation of these tools, it is imperative to collect the opinion of the clinicians. Methods: A workshop/non CFD was conducted during the European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT) Teaching Course,/nLisbon, Portugal. 36 delegates, mostly clinicians, performed supervised CFD analysis for an IA, using the @neuFuse software/ndeveloped within the European project @neurIST. Feedback on the workshop was collected and analyzed. The performance/nwas assessed on a scale of 1 to 4 and, compared with experts’ performance. Results: Current dilemmas in the management of/nunruptured IAs remained the most important motivating factor to attend the workshop and majority of participants showed/ninterest in participating in a multicentric trial. The participants achieved an average score of 2.52 (range 0–4) which was 63% (range 0–100%) of an expert user. Conclusions: Although participants showed a manifest interest in CFD, there was a clear lack of/nawareness concerning the role of hemodynamics in the etiopathogenesis of IAs and the use of CFD in this context. More efforts/ntherefore are required to enhance understanding of the clinicians in the subject.The authors would like to thank the European Commission,/nVI Framework Program, Priority 2, Information Society/nComputational Intelligence and Neuroscience 11/nTechnologies, a European Public Funded Organization,/nfor funding @neurIST Project (2) (www.aneurist.org) and/nallowing this study (Research Grant no. IST-FP6-027703). The funding was provided in the form of financial support/nto first two authors along with the arrangement of necessary/nresources to conduct the workshop