TY - GEN
T1 - Topological Image Analysis of Coronary Calcifications for Improved Cardiovascular Risk Prediction from Screening Non-Contrast CT
AU - Singh, Prerna
AU - Hoori, Ammar
AU - Al-Kindi, Sadeer
AU - Rajagopalan, Sanjay
AU - Wilson, David L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 IEEE.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Accurately identifying high-risk cardiovascular patients is crucial to prevent myocardial infarctions and revascularizations. However, traditional risk assessments, such as the Agatston score, quantify coronary artery calcifications (CAC) at ≥130 Hounsfield units (HU), overlooking the contribution of lower-density calcifications. We introduce TopologyCAC, a model that leverages topological image analysis and persistent homology to capture the structure, spatial distribution, and persistence of CACs across lowered HU thresholds in CT calcium score (CTCS) images. In a cohort of 2,132 patients, TopologyCAC outperformed the Agatston score, achieving a testing Net Reclassification Improvement (NRI) of 0.11 on the testing set. Additionally, for patients under 60 years, TopologyCAC achieved a testing C-index of 0.81 in this preliminary analysis, significantly improving early-stage disease risk stratification.
AB - Accurately identifying high-risk cardiovascular patients is crucial to prevent myocardial infarctions and revascularizations. However, traditional risk assessments, such as the Agatston score, quantify coronary artery calcifications (CAC) at ≥130 Hounsfield units (HU), overlooking the contribution of lower-density calcifications. We introduce TopologyCAC, a model that leverages topological image analysis and persistent homology to capture the structure, spatial distribution, and persistence of CACs across lowered HU thresholds in CT calcium score (CTCS) images. In a cohort of 2,132 patients, TopologyCAC outperformed the Agatston score, achieving a testing Net Reclassification Improvement (NRI) of 0.11 on the testing set. Additionally, for patients under 60 years, TopologyCAC achieved a testing C-index of 0.81 in this preliminary analysis, significantly improving early-stage disease risk stratification.
KW - atherosclerosis
KW - CT calcium score
KW - risk prediction
KW - Topological image analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005834255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=105005834255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISBI60581.2025.10980967
DO - 10.1109/ISBI60581.2025.10980967
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105005834255
T3 - Proceedings - International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging
BT - ISBI 2025 - 2025 IEEE 22nd International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, Proceedings
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, ISBI 2025
Y2 - 14 April 2025 through 17 April 2025
ER -