Explicit dynamics simulation of the catheter movement during bronchoscopic sampling of pulmonary nodules

Abstract

The paper presents an explicit dynamics approach for modelling the catheter movement inside the bronchial tree. A numerical model of the bronchial tree is considered, and a straight beam is used to simulate the catheter. The purpose is to test whether such approach can be used for modeling catheter insertion process as a means for studying tissue interaction tools and for preintervention planning. It is shown that by proper combination of the imposed initial and boundary conditions it is possible to considerably reduce the computational cost while obtaining realistic physical tissue-tool interaction.