Soroosh Sanatkhani

Faculty mentor(s): Sanjeev G. Shroff and Prahlad G. Menon

Research:

Mr. Sanatkhani’s ongoing research is focused on hemodynamics indices and shape-based models of left atrial appendage (LAA) to enhance stroke prediction in atrial fibrillation (AF).

The left atrial appendage has been shown to be a culprit location for formation of thrombi in non-valvular AF (91%) and in valvular AF (50%). This suggests a possible correlation between the LAA shape and stroke risk. The research group has proposed two novel, patient-specific indices to improve the stroke prediction in AF patients: a) A hemodynamics-based calculation of residence time in LAA; b) A generalized approach to quantify the LAA appearance (geometry). To achieve these goals, we are pursuing the following specific aims: 1) To develop quantification of LAA residence time and LAA appearance (shape). 2) To improve CHA₂DS₂-VASc-based stroke risk stratification using LAA residence time and LAA appearance indices.

A new method to predict the stroke risk will be introduced as a result of this project. This method is expected to improve significantly stroke risk prediction in AF patients, resulting in enhanced clinical management of AF and lowering of stroke risk. The population of AF patients is rising; therefore, this project will have a huge impact in lowering the rate of mortality and morbidity due to AF.

Conference Proceedings:

• Sanatkhani,S., Saidi, M. S., and Banazadeh, M. H., Urine concentrating mechanism modelling in rat kidney inner medulla, in 23^rd Iranian Conference on Biomedical Engineering and 1^st International Iranian Conference on Biomedical Engineering (ICBME), Tehran, 2016, pp. 111-116. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICBME.2016.7890940
• Sanatkhani, S., Shroff, S.G., and Menon, P.G., Personalized design and virtual evaluation of physician-modified stent grafts for juxta-renal abdominal aortic aneurysms. in SPIE Medical Imaging. 2017. Orlando, FL, USA. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2254404
• Sanatkhani, S., Finoli, M., Shroff, S.G. & Menon, P.G., Visualization of Patient-specific Hemodynamics in Atrial Fibrillation Using Computational and Experimental Models. in 5th International Conference on Computational & Mathematical Biomedical Engineering. 2017. Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
• Sanatkhani, S. and Menon, P.G., Relating Atrial Appendage Flow Stasis Risk from Computational Fluid Dynamics to Imaging Based Appearance Paradigms for Cardioembolic Risk, MICCAI 2017, Springer International Publishing: Cham. p. 86-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67552-7_11
• Sanatkhani, S., Oladosu, M., Chera, K., Nedios, S. & Menon, P.G., Relating regional characteristics of left atrial shape to presence of scar in patients with atrial fibrillation. in SPIE Medical Imaging. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2293947
• Sanatkhani, S. and Menon P.G., Generative statistical modeling of left atrial appendage appearance to substantiate clinical paradigms for stroke risk stratification. in SPIE Medical Imaging. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2291568
• Sanatkhani, S., Menon, P.G., Shroff, S.G and Nedios, S. Thrombus Risk Prediction in Atrial Fibrillation: Hemodynamic Model of Left Atrial Appendage. AHA Scientific Sessions 2018
• Menon, P.G. and Sanatkhani, S., Three-Dimensional Cephalometric Analysis Using Computed Tomographic Imaging, International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE 2018) - Clinical Applications of Bioengineering II IMECE2018-88259
• Menon, P.G., Thirugnanasambandam, M., Avril, S., Finol, E., Piskin, S., Canchi, T., Karmonik, C. and Sanatkhani, S., Temporal Evolution of Abdominal Aortic Wall Stress using image-based Vascular Mechanical Characterization (iV-MeCh) technique, International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE 2018) - Tissue Characterizations IMECE2018-88275

Mr. Sanatkhani’s ongoing research is focused on hemodynamics indices and shape-based models of left atrial appendage (LAA) to enhance stroke prediction in atrial fibrillation (AF).