Hemodynamic numerical simulation and analysis of oscillatory blood flow in growing aneurysms

Hemodynamics plays a crucial role in the formation, progression and rupture of intracranial aneurysms. Understanding these mechanisms is important to improve current diagnosis and treatment of intracranial aneurysms. In this study we simulate and analyze the pressure gradients and the blood flow fields in growing intracranial aneurysms. Firstly, the pressure gradients are obtained according to the blood velocity waveform at the axis of the inlet to the artery, which can be acquired by transcranial Doppler technology. Then, blood flow fields are calculated by solving the linearized Navier-Stokes equations and continuity equation using the Fourier series method. Results show that the higher the aneurysm dilatation degree is, the lower the maximum oscillatory velocity will be. Therefore, the oscillatory velocity may be used to analyze the characteristics of blood flow signals from aneurysm and to forecast the size of aneurysm. This sensitive parameter can be utilized for the detection of vessel diseases, which is promising to provide a useful reference in clinical application.