Stenting as porous media in anatomically accurate geometries. A comparison of models and spatial heterogeneity.

Modelling intracranial aneurysm blood flow after flow diverter treatment has proven to be of great scientific and clinical interest. One of the reasons for not having CFD as an everyday clinical tool yet is the time required to set-up such simulations plus the required computational time. The speed-up of these simulations can have a considerable impact during treatment planning and device selection. Modelling flow diverters as a porous medium (PM) can considerably improve the computational time. Many models have been presented in literature, but quantitative comparisons between models are scarce. In this study, the untreated case, the explicit definition of the flow diverter wires as no-slip boundary condition and five different porous medium models were chosen for comparison, and evaluated on intracranial aneurysm of 14 patients with different shapes, sizes, and locations. CFD simulations were made using finite volume method on steady flow conditions. Velocities, kinetic energy, wall shear stress, and computational time were assessed for each model. Then, all models are compared against the no-slip boundary condition using non parametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The model with least performance showed a mean K-S statistic of 0.31 and deviance of 0.2, while the model with best values always gave K-S statistics below 0.2. Kinetic energy between PM models varied between an over estimation of 218.3% and an under estimation of 73.06%. Also, speedups were between 4.75x and 5.3x (stdev: 0.38x and 0.15x) when using PM models. Flow diverters can be simulated with PM with a good agreement to standard CFD simulations were FD wires are represented with no-slip boundary condition in less than a quarter of the time. Best results were obtained on PM models based on geometrical properties, in particular, when using a heterogeneous medium based on equations for flat rhomboidal wire frames.

Regional assessment of vascular morphology and hemodynamics: methodology and evaluation for abdominal aortic aneurysms after endovascular repair.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is a deadly disease that can be treated with different endovascular devices that will distinctly alter the aortic morphology. Computational methods can be used to understand the effect of anatomical changes on aortic hemodynamics. We propose a standardized method to assess morphological and hemodynamic changes of the abdominal aorta through the longitudinal axis of the vessel. Patient-specific CFD simulations were used to quantify these changes for two different endografts before and after surgery. Differences in cross-sectional area, blood pressure, peak blood velocity, wall shear stress, and retrograde blood flow were accurately evidenced with the proposed methodology.

A comparative study of porous medium CFD models for flow diverter stents: Advantages and shortcomings.

In computational fluid dynamics, there is a high interest in modeling flow diverter stents as porous media due to its reduced computational loads. One of the main difficulties of such models is proper parameter setup. Most authors assume flow diverter's wire screen as an isotropic and homogeneous medium, while others proposes anisotropic configurations, yet very little is discussed about the effect of these assumptions on model's accuracy. In this paper, we compare the effect of different models on hemodynamics in relation to their parameters. The fidelity and efficiency of the different models to capture wire screen effect on fluid flow are quantitatively analyzed and compared.

Effects on Aortoiliac Fluid Dynamics After Endovascular Sealing of Abdominal Aneurysms.

OBJECTIVES:: To evaluate the effects on aortoiliac fluid dynamics after the implantation of an endograft based on endovascular aneurysm sealing (EVAS) versus endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) strategy. METHODS:: An adaptive geometrical deformable model was used for aortic lumen segmentation in 8 patients before and after the surgery. Abdominal aneurysms were treated with an endograft based on the EVAS system (Nellix, n = 4) and with a device based on an anatomical fixation technology (n = 4). Pressure, blood velocity, and wall shear stress (WSS) were estimated at different aortic regions using computational fluid dynamics methods. Physiologic inlet/outlet flow values at the abdominal aorta, the celiac trunk, and the mesenteric and the renal arteries were set. Pressure references were set at iliac arteries outlet. RESULTS:: Maximum aneurysm sizes were similar for both groups in the preoperative scans. The lumen area was lower after EVAR ( P < .05) and EVAS ( P < .01) compared to preoperative aortic lumen sizes. Pressure increase was higher in the proximal abdominal aorta after EVAS compared to EVAR (2.3 ± 0.3 mm Hg vs 0.9 ± 0.3 mm Hg, P < .001). Peak blood velocities inside the endografts were 3-fold higher for EVAS compared to EVAR (54 ± 5 cm/s vs 17 ± 4 cm/s, P < .01). Velocities at the iliac arteries also remained higher for EVAS (38 ± 4 cm/s vs 24 ± 4 cm/s, P < .05). Peak WSS at the iliac arteries remained higher for EVAS compared to EVAR group ( P < .05). CONCLUSION:: The significant modification of the aortic bifurcation anatomy after EVAS alters aortoiliac fluid dynamics, showing a pressure impact at the renal arteries level and an acceleration of the blood velocity at the iliac region with a concomitant increase in peak WSS.