Fluid-Structure Interaction Within Models of Patient-Specific Arteries: Computational Simulations and Experimental...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Cardiovascular Research

Background:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading global cause of death, exacerbated by an aging population.
• Adverse vascular hemodynamics and biomechanics are key drivers of CVD, but in-vivo measurement is difficult.
• Current patient-specific hemodynamic simulations often simplify blood vessels as rigid, ignoring their crucial mechanical properties.

Approach:

• Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations are explored for modeling flexible blood vessels in patient-specific cardiovascular geometries.
• FSI combines fluid (blood) and structural (arterial wall) domains, presenting unique validation challenges.
• This review examines FSI simulation advancements and experimental validation methods for patient-specific arterial models.

Key Points:

• FSI simulations offer a promising approach to characterize hemodynamics in flexible, patient-specific arteries.
• Experimental validation of FSI models is critical but challenging.
• Compliant arterial phantoms are emerging as a key tool for validating FSI simulation results.

Conclusions:

• Accurate simulation of vascular biomechanics is essential for predicting CVD progression and treatment efficacy.
• FSI simulations provide a more realistic approach than rigid vessel models for patient-specific CVD analysis.
• Further development in experimental validation techniques, like using compliant phantoms, is needed to advance FSI applications in cardiovascular research.