Organization:
Funded by: | University of Twente |
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Collaboration: | Radboud Universitair Medisch Centrum: |
Description:
Intracranial aneurysms may form in several locations in the brain, the circle of Willis being one of the typical regions. Aneurysms are weak spots in the blood circulation system of the brain. These can constitute a serious health problem – in case of rupture of an aneurysm, a life-threatening situation may occur. It is therefore important to develop methods to predict the pulsatile flow that takes place inside an aneurysm and correspondingly quantify the likelihood of a possible rupture.
Current rupture prediction models are largely based on statistical analysis of data from a database of patients, and on clinical expertise of the medical team. In this research project we complement this method of assessment of risk with a deeper understanding of the actual blood flow in the affected areas. The latter can be achieved using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods with which patient-specific geometries of the aneurysms can be analyzed in terms of the velocity, pressure and shear fields that form during the pulsatile flow. In Figure 1 an example of a discrete model of an actual aneurysm is shown, with an impression of the developed flow inside.
Figure 1: Aneurysm model showing a snapshot of the velocity field in two cross-sections, resulting from pulsatile flow.
Output
Pictures:
