Compositions and Methods for Analyzing Collateral Density

摘要

The present invention provides a retinal predictor index (RPI), composed of discrete geometric and fractal descriptors of the branch-patterning of the outer retinal circulation, as a biomarker for differences in the extent (number and diameter) of collateral blood vessels in brain, heart, lower extremities and other tissues.

主权项

1. A method of determining a retinal predictor index (RPI) for a tissue of interest of a subject, comprising:
a) obtaining an image of the vascular architecture of the subject's retinal circulation; b) determining a value for the following patterning metrics of retinal artery trees in the image:
1) retinal area,2) vessel diameter D0,3) vessel diameter D2,4) optimality,5) branch angle,6) central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE),7) average length of branch segments,8) kurtosis of distribution of branch segment lengths, and9) lacunarity; c) calculating, based on ones of the values of the patterning metrics, a retinal predictor index for collateral number (RPIn) and a retinal predictor index for average collateral diameter (RPId) for the subject; and d) calculating a retinal predictor index (RPI) that is a function based on the RPIn and RPId, wherein the RPIn corresponds to and/or predicts the collateral number in the tissue of interest and the RPId corresponds to and/or predicts the average collateral diameter in the tissue of interest.