A two-dimensional, finite element analysis of vasogenic brain edema

The authors constructed a two-dimensional model of vasogenic brain edema, using the finite element method (FEM). The model incorporates the following physical parameters: cerebrovascular hydraulic conductivity, metabolic water production, tissue hydraulic conductivity and compliance, tissue and plasma osmotic and hydrostatic pressures, cerebrospinal fluid hydrostatic pressure and absorption, intracerebral stress, and shift of brain tissue. These parameters, related by partial differential equations, were approximated numerically in time and space by the FEM. The results of computer simulation of brain edema by the FEM were compared with experimental data obtained in a feline cold injury brain edema model. Computer simulation predicted the changes observed in interstitial pressure, extent of edema, intracerebral stress distribution, and shift of brain tissue. The results indicate that the FEM, applied to a model of vasogenic brain edema, can be used to predict the time course and regional distribution of fluid accumulation and the accompanying regional stress and deformation of brain tissue.