Numerical simulation investigation of drug deposition process during nasal administration with auxiliary airflow

Abstract

Successful delivery of drugs to the Olfactory region (OR) is the key to treating diseases through the nasal cavity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of auxiliary airflow on particle deposition in the OR during nasal drug administration. A realistic 3D nasal ensemble model was reconstructed from CT scans of the head of a healthy adult. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the effect of auxiliary airflow on the deposition of drug particles in the OR during nasal administration. The discrete phase model (DPM) was adopted to track the deposition trajectories of drug particles. Three auxiliary airflows were selected together with three spray cone angles, four particle sizes, five drug particle delivery velocities and three specific injection positions on the deposition fraction of drug particles in the OR were analyzed. The results indicated that the effect of auxiliary airflow on the deposition fraction of drug particles of different particle sizes in the OR is significant. The delivery efficiency of injection position C is always the greatest. A delivery velocity of 15 m/s is more favorable for nasal administration and the effect of spray cone angle is proportional to the auxiliary airflow. Computational results should be helpful for experimental studies and future nasal optimization.