Sensitivity of the gradient oscillatory number to flow input waveform shapes

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Fluid Dynamics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Cerebral aneurysms are a significant health concern.
• Hemodynamic factors play a crucial role in aneurysm initiation.
• The gradient oscillatory number (GON) is a potential indicator of these hemodynamic forces.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the sensitivity of the gradient oscillatory number (GON) to variations in flow input waveform shapes.
• To determine if assumed flow waveforms can be used in place of patient-specific waveforms for GON analysis.
• To evaluate the utility of GON as a hemodynamic indicator for cerebral aneurysm initiation.

Main Methods:

• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed on a human internal carotid artery model.
• Three different flow input waveform shapes were used to analyze GON.
• Local absolute and relative variations of GON were computed to quantify sensitivity to waveform changes.

Main Results:

• Elevated GON was observed at known aneurysm sites across all tested waveform shapes.
• Qualitative GON distributions showed no significant differences between the three waveform shapes.
• Quantitative analysis indicated that GON is largely insensitive to flow waveform shape variability.

Conclusions:

• The gradient oscillatory number (GON) is robust to variations in flow input waveform shapes.
• Assumed flow waveforms can be substituted for individual waveforms in large-scale studies for GON analysis.
• GON remains a promising hemodynamic indicator for cerebral aneurysm initiation detection.