Modeling Flow Diverters Using a Porous Medium Approach: A Fast Alternative to Virtual Flow Diverter Deployment

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Devices
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• The Tubridge flow diverter (FD) is a novel device for aneurysm treatment.
• Virtual FD deployment simulations are computationally intensive.
• An alternative porous medium approach is explored to simplify FD modeling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a porous medium strategy for modeling Tubridge FDs.
• To reduce the time and complexity of aneurysm simulation procedures.
• To facilitate clinical research applications of FD modeling.

Main Methods:

• Ten patient-specific aneurysm models were created from 3D angiographic images.
• Virtual FDs were deployed, and porous medium patches were constructed.
• Hemodynamic conditions were simulated using two distinct approaches for comparison.

Main Results:

• Both porous medium and direct virtual FD simulation approaches yielded comparable hemodynamic results.
• Significant correlations were found between mean wall shear stress, pressure, velocity, and pressure.
• The porous medium approach reduced preparation and simulation time by approximately 50%.

Conclusions:

• Porous medium modeling provides comparable hemodynamic alteration values to direct virtual FD simulations.
• This approach significantly decreases modeling complexity and computation time.
• The porous medium method is a viable and efficient alternative for clinical research involving Tubridge FDs.