The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of iTFlow in blood flow analysis.
iTFlow has been developed by Cardio Flow Design and supports blood flow analysis and evaluation in the fields of cardiovascular surgery and radiology. Based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, users can perform their own analysis and visualisation of blood flow. It enables the visualisation of fluid dynamics in the heart and blood vessels in both 2D and 3D, even without the use of contrast agents.
Furthermore, various quantitative evaluations can be made, including flow rate, velocity, pathline, streamline, and other parameters. Combining advanced algorithms and image analysis techniques assists physicians and healthcare professionals in diagnosis and treatment planning.
Keiichi Itatani, a cardiovascular surgeon specialising in adult congenital heart disease and the inventor of iTFlow, said: “We developed this software with the aim of enabling all physicians, regardless of their level of experience, to propose the most appropriate treatment for patients even with complicated anatomy and cardiac function by quantitatively evaluating blood flow.”
Yue-Hin Loke, associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital (Washington DC, USA) who has been conducting retrospective blood flow analysis research with iTFlow prior to FDA approval, commented: “Cardiac magnetic imaging research has demonstrated the emerging potential of advanced intracardiac flow analysis in heart disease beyond traditional measurements. To that end, iTFlow provides a front-line software interface to measure kinetic energies, vortexes, and shear stresses inside the heart without the need for complex in-house engineering software. I am excited by the potential of software such as iTFlow in bringing intracardiac flow analysis to clinical cardiology.”
