Vikas Thondapu

All Publications

• Epidemiology of Coronary Atherosclerosis Among People Living With HIV in Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE Siedner, M. J., Ghoshhajra, B., Erem, G., Nassanga, R., Randhawa, M., Ochieng, A., Acan, M., Lu, M. T., Thondapu, V., Takigami, A., Reynolds, Z., Atwiine, F., Tindimwebwa, E., Gilbert, R. F., Passell, E., Sagar, S., Tong, Y., Ntusi, N. A. B., Tsai, A. C., Bibangambah, P., Gaziano, T., Hoeppner, S. S., Longenecker, C. T., Okello, S., Asiimwe, S. 2025; 178 (4): 468-478

  Abstract

  Data on the prevalence of coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD) in the African region among people with and without HIV are lacking.To estimate the prevalence of CAD in Uganda and determine whether well-controlled HIV infection is associated with increased presence or severity of CAD.Cross-sectional study.Southwestern Uganda.Ambulatory people living with HIV (PWH), aged older than 40 years, taking antiretroviral therapy for 3 or more years, and population-based, age- and sex-similar people without HIV (PWoH).Participants had cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD) risk profiling and computed tomography scanning for detection of CAD, defined as the presence of calcified or noncalcified plaque.Of 630 screened, 586 (93%) met criteria and had evaluable images. Of these, 287 (49.0%) were PWH and nearly all (272 of 287 [95%]) were virologically suppressed. Mean age (57.9 vs. 57.4 years), proportion female (49%), and median CVD risk score (4.1 vs. 3.4) did not differ by HIV serostatus. The prevalence of CAD was low overall (45 of 586 [7.7%]) and among both PWH (26 of 287 [9.1%]) and PWoH (19 of 299 [6.4%]; absolute prevalence difference, 2.7% [95% CI, -1.6% to 7.0%]). Results were similar after adjustment for CVD risk factors.Our findings may not generalize to symptomatic populations or those with greater predicted CVD risk. The study was not powered to detect small differences in CAD prevalence between HIV subgroups. Both PWH and PWoH had similar CV risk factor profiles, but residual confounding between HIV and CAD cannot be excluded.The prevalence of CAD in Uganda was low compared with population-based cohorts from the Global North with similar CVD risk profiles and was similar between HIV serostatus subgroups. Our results suggest that CAD may not be a major cause of morbidity in Uganda.National Institutes of Health.

  View details for DOI 10.7326/ANNALS-24-02233

  View details for Web of Science ID 001470098400004

  View details for PubMedID 40073231

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12022967

• Validation of Wall Shear Stress Assessment in Non-invasive Coronary CTA versus Invasive Imaging: A Patient-Specific Computational Study. Annals of biomedical engineering Eslami, P., Hartman, E. M., Albaghadai, M., Karady, J., Jin, Z., Thondapu, V., Cefalo, N. V., Lu, M. T., Coskun, A., Stone, P. H., Marsden, A., Hoffmann, U., Wentzel, J. J. 2020

  Abstract

  Endothelial shear stress (ESS) identifies coronary plaques at high risk for progression and/or rupture leading to a future acute coronary syndrome. In this study an optimized methodology was developed to derive ESS, pressure drop and oscillatory shear index using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in 3D models of coronary arteries derived from non-invasive coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). These CTA-based ESS calculations were compared to the ESS calculations using the gold standard with fusion of invasive imaging and CTA. In 14 patients paired patient-specific CFD models based on invasive and non-invasive imaging of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary arteries were created. Ten patients were used to optimize the methodology, and four patients to test this methodology. Time-averaged ESS (TAESS) was calculated for both coronary models applying patient-specific physiological data available at the time of imaging. For data analysis, each 3D reconstructed coronary artery was divided into 2mm segments and each segment was subdivided into 8 arcs (45°).TAESS and other hemodynamic parameters were averaged per segment as well as per arc. Furthermore, the paired segment- and arc-averaged TAESS were categorized into patient-specific tertiles (low, medium and high). In the ten LADs, used for optimization of the methodology, we found high correlations between invasively-derived and non-invasively-derived TAESS averaged over segments (n=263, r=0.86) as well as arcs (n=2104, r=0.85, p<0.001). The correlation was also strong in the four testing-patients with r=0.95 (n=117 segments, p=0.001) and r=0.93 (n=936 arcs, p=0.001).There was an overall high concordance of 78% of the three TAESS categories comparing both methodologies using the segment- and 76% for the arc-averages in the first ten patients. This concordance was lower in the four testing patients (64 and 64% in segment- and arc-averaged TAESS). Although the correlation and concordance were high for both patient groups, the absolute TAESS values averaged per segment and arc were overestimated using non-invasive vs. invasive imaging [testing patients: TAESS segment: 30.1(17.1-83.8) vs. 15.8(8.8-63.4) and TAESS arc: 29.4(16.2-74.7) vs 15.0(8.9-57.4) p<0.001]. We showed that our methodology can accurately assess the TAESS distribution non-invasively from CTA and demonstrated a good correlation with TAESS calculated using IVUS/OCT 3D reconstructed models.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10439-020-02631-9

  View details for PubMedID 33067688

• Expert recommendations on the assessment of wall shear stress in human coronary arteries: existing methodologies, technical considerations, and clinical applications. European heart journal Gijsen, F. n., Katagiri, Y. n., Barlis, P. n., Bourantas, C. n., Collet, C. n., Coskun, U. n., Daemen, J. n., Dijkstra, J. n., Edelman, E. n., Evans, P. n., van der Heiden, K. n., Hose, R. n., Koo, B. K., Krams, R. n., Marsden, A. n., Migliavacca, F. n., Onuma, Y. n., Ooi, A. n., Poon, E. n., Samady, H. n., Stone, P. n., Takahashi, K. n., Tang, D. n., Thondapu, V. n., Tenekecioglu, E. n., Timmins, L. n., Torii, R. n., Wentzel, J. n., Serruys, P. n. 2019

  View details for DOI 10.1093/eurheartj/ehz551

  View details for PubMedID 31566246