PhD Aorta Plan Prediction of postoperative outcome of vascular patients with AI

Patients over 65 with aortic aneurysm (AA) or aortic dissection (AD) often have comorbidities, increasing surgical risks. Precise information on treatment risks and benefits is crucial. The Aorta PLAN project uses AI to provide personalized, evidence-based predictions for outcomes after endovascular treatment (EVAR) for abdominal AA and type B dissections. Two PhD students will focus on this, one using advanced image analysis, clinical data, and wearables.

The project these PhD students will work on is called Personalized therapy for patients with Aortic disease (Aorta PLAN). The Department of Vascular Surgery at Amsterdam UMC (location AMC is currently recruiting a PhD student to pursue their four year doctorate in our lab for the project Aorta-PLAN.

The objectives of the project are:

• Advancing image analysis with AI by studying geometrical and hemodynamic AAA parameters using anatomical medical images to predict AAA progression and identify key anatomical features that predict sac shrinkage, sac stabilization, or sac growth after EVAR.
• Identifying predictive parameters of Aortic dissection progression by studying advanced image analysis, omics (provided by the other phd-student), and clinical data.
• Establishing a digital twin for AAA treatment and AD treatment (prediction model) and visualize it by developing a digital atlas to enhance communication between patients and physicians.

In your research you will be closely collaborating with one other doctoral candidate who will be working on prognostic experimental research and with a number of researchers working on the VASCUL-AID project.

• You will develop and implement machine learning algorithms to analyze medical data from different sources (images, scans, clinical data, wearables and omics etc.) for the purpose of predicting the progression of aortic aneurysms sac dynamics post EVAR and aortic dissections.
• You will integrate the developed AI models into a user-friendly platform for clinical use by healthcare professionals (digital twin platform).
• You will do prospective collection of data with wearables and coordination of the study (talk with patients and physicians).
• You will collaborate with both local and international partners (this includes clinical, experimental, and computational partners) to maintain the comprehensiveness and applicability of the research. This includes the other PhD-student working on omics.
• You will participate in the collection and annotation of medical data for training and validation of AI models.
• You will present research findings at scientific conferences and workshops.

Associate Prof. Dr. Kak Khee Yeung is the project leader and will also be your supervisor. The other supervisor will be As. Prof. Dr. Jelmer Wolterink from the University of Twente. The translational vascular surgery research group offers a resourceful and stimulating scientific environment. The other vascular surgeons involved in the VASCUL-AID project are Prof. Dr. Ron Balm, Prof. Dr. Jan Blankensteijn, Dr. Vincent Jongkind and technical physician Stefan Smorenburg. You will find yourself in a resourceful and stimulating scientific environment. We are an energetic and enthusiastic team of approximately 16-20 PhD students and two postdocs.

At Amsterdam UMC we see more than 300 aortic aneurysms and more than 500 PAD patients every year. We are also equipped with a hybrid endovascular operating room.