Key result
Ovine pulmonary arteries resemble human anatomy more closely than porcine models despite significant geometric differences.
Why the study?
Understanding species-specific pulmonary artery anatomy is important to facilitate pre-clinical animal and in-silico clinical trials for implantable pulmonary artery pressure sensors.
Cross-Sectional (n=104)
Yes
Sheep may be a more suitable animal model than pigs for preclinical testing of implantable pulmonary artery pressure sensors based on pulmonary artery morphology.
May guide ovine model selection for PA device testing; leaves open human translational validation.
To facilitate pre-clinical animal and in-silico clinical trials for implantable pulmonary artery pressure sensors, understanding the respective species pulmonary arteries (PA) anatomy is important. Thus, morphological parameters describing PA of pigs and sheep, which are common animal models, were compared with humans. Retrospective computed tomography data of 41 domestic pigs (82.6 ± 18.8 kg), 14 sheep (49.1 ± 6.9 kg), and 49 patients (76.8 ± 18.2 kg) were used for reconstruction of the subject-specific PA anatomy. 3D surface geometries including main, left, and right PA as well as LPA and RPA side branches were manually reconstructed. Then, specific geometric parameters (length, diameters, taper, bifurcation angle, curvature, and cross-section enlargement) affecting device implantation and post-interventional device effect and efficacy were automatically calculated. For both animal models, significant differences to the human anatomy for most geometric parameters were found, even though the respective parameters' distributions also featured relevant overlap. Out of the two animal models, sheep seem to be better suitable for a preclinical study when considering only PA morphology. Reconstructed geometries are provided as open data for future studies. These findings support planning of preclinical studies and will help to evaluate the results of animal trials.
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Goubergrits et al. (2023) conducted a cross-sectional in Pulmonary artery morphometry (n=104). Porcine and ovine pulmonary artery anatomy vs. Human pulmonary artery anatomy was evaluated on Morphological parameters of the pulmonary artery (lengths, diameters, taper, bifurcation angle, curvature, enlargement index). Ovine pulmonary artery anatomy demonstrated stronger geometrical similarity to human anatomy compared to porcine models, although both species showed significant differences from humans in most geometric parameters.
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