Finite element analysis to model ischemia experienced in the development of device related pressure ulcers

Pressure ulcers are a common occurrence of damage to skin. Severity ranges from slightly discoloured skin to full thickness tissue damage which can be fatal in some cases. Engineering effort, typically developing computational models had made significant progress in the understanding and demonstration of the formation mechanism of pressure ulcers with the aetiology of excessive stress; however, relatively limited attempts had been made to develop relevant models for pressure ulcers caused by ischemia. The aim of this article is to present evidence of a computational model developed to simulate ischemic pressure ulcer formation and demonstrate the established relationship between the computational data and the acquired clinically relevant experimental data by utilising Laser Doppler Velocimetry. The application of the presented computational model and the established relationship allows the evaluation of the effect of a mechanical loading to the cutaneous blood flow velocity which is a step closer to understand and evaluate a mechanical load to the formation of pressure ulcers caused by ischemia.