Abstract
BackgroundPatient-specific modelling in clinical studies requires a realistic simulation to be performed within a reasonable computational time. The aim of this study was to develop simple but realistic outflow boundary conditions for patient-specific blood flow simulation which can be used to clarify the distribution of the anticancer agent in intra-arterial chemotherapy for oral cancer.MethodsIn this study, the boundary conditions are expressed as a zero dimension (0D) resistance model of the peripheral vessel network based on the fractal characteristics of branching arteries combined with knowledge of the circulatory system and the energy minimization principle. This resistance model was applied to four patient-specific blood flow simulations at the region where the common carotid artery bifurcates into the internal and external carotid arteries.ResultsResults of these simulations with the proposed boundary conditions were compared with the results of ultrasound measurements for the same patients. The pressure was found to be within the physiological range. The difference in velocity in the superficial temporal artery results in an error of 5.21 ± 0.78 % between the numerical results and the measurement data.ConclusionsThe proposed outflow boundary conditions, therefore, constitute a simple resistance-based model and can be used for performing accurate simulations with commercial fluid dynamics software.
Highlights
Patient-specific modelling in clinical studies requires a realistic simulation to be performed within a reasonable computational time
Even though the final target of this study is to understand the distribution of the anticancer agent in the carotid artery area, including the branches of the external carotid artery (ECA) which act as feeding arteries for oral cancer, the present study focuses on patient-specific blood flow simulations in the area relevant for intra-arterial chemotherapy since anticancer agent flows are correlated with the blood flow due to their small concentration
Rhode et al [56] previously reported the results of simulations of haemodynamic flow in head and neck cancer chemotherapy, where a patient-specific vessel model was created from computed tomography (CT) images, branches of the ECA, such as the occipital artery (OA), maxillary artery (MA) and superficial temporal artery (STA), were not modelled, and the peripheral vascular network was not considered
Summary
Patient-specific modelling in clinical studies requires a realistic simulation to be performed within a reasonable computational time. The aim of this study was to develop simple but realistic outflow boundary conditions for patient-specific blood flow simulation which can be used to clarify the distribution of the anticancer agent in intra-arterial chemotherapy for oral cancer. The side effects can be severe and the distribution of the anticancer agent to tumour-feeding arteries is unclear It Ohhara et al BioMed Eng OnLine (2016) 15:16 is necessary to clarify the optimal dose of anticancer agent for each patient, and it is critical to obtain accurate information on flow distribution in each vessel for optimal drug delivery. Even though the final target of this study is to understand the distribution of the anticancer agent in the carotid artery area, including the branches of the external carotid artery (ECA) which act as feeding arteries for oral cancer, the present study focuses on patient-specific blood flow simulations in the area relevant for intra-arterial chemotherapy since anticancer agent flows are correlated with the blood flow due to their small concentration. Despite the recent progress of measurement methods, such as ultrasound-based methods, it is still difficult to obtain accurate information about the flow distribution in vessels, such as branches of the ECA, in deep soft tissues
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