Chapter 7 - In silico methods to model dose deposition

Abstract

In this chapter, we review the current state of in silico tools for lung deposition applications and discuss how knowledge gathered from recent studies can be purposefully leveraged to design efficient hybrid multiscale lung models. We firstly address the different roles of in silico methods when applied to the human lung airways. We then discuss the variability of airflow and particle transport regimes in different regions of the human lung and how in silico methods are employed in each case. In the next section, we focus on numerical aspects associated with the application of computational fluid particle dynamics (CFPD) in the extrathoracic and upper conducting airways. We highlight the variability in airflow and deposition predictions in the upper airways across different CFPD methods and the necessity for validation and verification of computational tools. A review of models applied to the pulmonary acinus follows, in which we highlight how CFPD methods can deliver high-resolution spatiotemporal predictions of local acinar aerosol deposition. Towards integrated simulations covering the whole lung, we describe efforts to integrate 3D CFPD for the upper airways with models of the peripheral lung and discuss open issues and expected developments. We then discuss how CFPD can account for the non-standard lung, namely disease, age and gender effects. We close with a brief review of 1D models and how their predictions can be improved in the future by leveraging knowledge generated by the more complex 3D CFPD and hybrid approaches.