Tomographic particle image velocimetry for the validation of hemodynamic simulations in an intracranial aneurysm

Image-based blood flow simulations can provide detailed hemodynamic information in diseased vessels such as intracranial aneurysms. However, validation is essential to evaluate the accuracy of these computations and further improve their acceptance among physicians. In this regard, tomographic particle image velocimetry was used to measure the flow characteristics in a patient specific aneurysm phantom model. Additionally, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out using a well accepted commercial software package and a clinical research prototype, respectively. The comparison between in-vitro measurement and in-silico computations reveals a good qualitative agreement. Further, computations based on classical CFD agreed well with results from a clinical research prototype. Hence, the results of this study demonstrate the usability of numerical methods to obtain realistic blood flow predictions in a clinical context.