Pulsatile Blood Flow in Anatomically Accurate Vessels with Multiple Aneurysms: A Medical Intervention Planning Application of Computational Haemodynamics

Abstract

In the present study, we are investigating computationally the pulsatile flow in an anatomically accurate cerebral arterial segment exhibiting two saccular aneurysms. Our focus is on the haemodynamic patterns observed within the two aneurysms, in terms of inflow-outflow regions, emergence and disappearance of coherent structures and mixing throughout the cardiac cycle. The results obtained carry interesting features, important for thrombosis, pharmacokinetics and particularly for interventional planning for aneurysm treatment. For the latter, being the center-point of this study, we show that the two aneurysms behave in a dissimilar manner, since the blood inflow region oscillates significantly for one of them and practically does not oscillate at all for the second. This information can guide the medical interventionist in designing the optimal approach, particularly in cases where total obliteration of the aneurysm neck opening is impossible.