Hybrid finite element-finite difference method for thermal analysis of blood vessels

A hybrid finite-difference/finite-element technique for the thermal analysis of blood vessels embedded in perfused tissue has been developed and evaluated. This method provides efficient and accurate solutions to the conjugated heat transfer problem of convection by blood coupled to conduction in the tissue. The technique uses a previously developed 3D automatic meshing method for creating a finite element mesh in the tissue surrounding the vessels, coupled iteratively with a 1-D marching finite difference method for the interior of the vessels. This hybrid technique retains the flexibility and ease of automated finite-element meshing techniques for modelling the complex geometry of blood vessels and irregularly shaped tissues, and speeds the solution time by using a simple finite-difference method to calculate the bulk mean temperatures within all blood vessels. The use of the 1D finite-difference technique in the blood vessels also eliminates the large computer memory requirements needed to accurately solve large vessel network problems when fine FE meshes are used in the interior of vessels. The accuracy of the hybrid technique has been verified against previously verified numerical solutions. In summary, the hybrid technique combines the accuracy and flexibility found in automated finite-element techniques, with the speed and reduction of computational memory requirements associated with the 1D finite-difference technique, something which has not been done before. This method, thus, has the potential to provide accurate, flexible and relatively fast solutions for the thermal analysis of coupled perfusion/blood vessel problems, and large vessel network problems.