A New Method for Simulating Embolic Coils as Heterogeneous Porous Media

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Physics
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Modeling cerebral aneurysm coils using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is crucial for understanding hemodynamics.
• Conventional methods require complex mesh generation due to the intricate geometry of deployed coils.
• The homogeneous porous medium model simplifies coil geometry but assumes uniform distribution, which is often inaccurate.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and verify a novel heterogeneous porous medium approach for modeling coils in aneurysms.
• To compare the accuracy and efficiency of the heterogeneous model against conventional and homogeneous methods.
• To investigate the influence of coil heterogeneity on aneurysmal hemodynamics.

Main Methods:

• Developed a heterogeneous porous medium model for simulating coil-embedded aneurysms.
• Performed CFD simulations to validate the model by calculating pressure drop in a straight cylinder with deployed coils.
• Applied the heterogeneous model to three distinct aneurysm geometries to analyze hemodynamics.

Main Results:

• The heterogeneous model demonstrated strong agreement with conventional CFD approaches in predicting blood kinetic energy.
• Homogeneous models significantly over-predicted blood kinetic energy within the aneurysmal sac.
• The heterogeneous approach achieved substantial reductions in mesh elements compared to conventional methods.

Conclusions:

• The benefits of porous medium modeling for aneurysms can be preserved using a heterogeneous approach.
• The proposed heterogeneous model offers improved accuracy over homogeneous models.
• This method enhances CFD analysis efficiency and accuracy for coiled aneurysms.