Medical Applications of Computer Modelling: The Respiratory System

Abstract

T Martonen (ed) Southampton: WIT Press (2001) 345pp, price: £135.00, ISBN: 1 85312 808 2`Medical Applications of Computer Modelling: The Respiratory System' is a collection of twelve chapters that describe mathematical models of various components of the respiratory system. The overall aim of the volume is to describe gas transport at every anatomical level of the respiratory tree, with a particular emphasis on the delivery of inhaled pharmacological drugs. Two chapters describe the morphology of the respiratory tree, six chapters describe aspects of fluid dynamics within the respiratory tree, two chapters describe the design of aerosol systems to deliver the drugs and two chapters describe imaging techniques that are used to assess the delivery of inhaled drugs. Whilst every anatomical level of the respiratory tree is considered, the range of physical processes that are considered is limited to those that can be included in a volume of this length (345 pages).The individual chapters are well written, although in a few cases the figures require more thought than should be necessary as colour graphics have been reproduced in black and white. The content of each chapter is, in many cases, a review of research carried out by the author'sgroup, `with an emphasis on the important roles that mathematical theory and computer technology can play in the medical arena'. The opinion of this reviewer is that the reader is provided with a good introduction to some simple mathematical models of the respiratory system and some simple techniques that are used to solve the resulting equations. This volume would therefore be of interest to a researcher with substantial clinical or physiological training, but limited bioengineering experience, who wishes to know more about mathematical and computer modelling of the respiratory system. However, as each chapter usually focuses on the work of only one research group, there are often other mathematical models and more complex mathematical theory that are not included in this volume that a bioengineer working in this area would be interested in.The content of the chapters is beyond that which would normally be taught in an undergraduate course, unless a specialized dissertation was being written on computer modelling of gas transport in the respiratory tree. This book would be of interest to both students and lecturers on undergraduate engineering courses writing such a dissertation, as the mathematical models presented would be accessible to almost all students who have studied mathematics to a level required by engineering degree courses.