Effect of vascular compression and drug injection time on thrombolytic therapy: Numerical simulation and validation

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been occurring frequently in human society. There is an urgent need to study the influence of several factors on thrombolytic therapy, such as the effects of vascular pressure levels (VPL) and the drug injection time (DIT). Considering blood as a non-Newtonian fluid, valve as a hyperelastic material, and thrombus as a porous medium, a new numerical simulation model of biofluid mechanics incorporating fluid-solid coupling phenomena and biochemical substance reactions is established based on the N-S equations and the convection-diffusion reaction equations. Then, a unique in vitro experimental platform is established to verify the correctness of the constructed mathematical model. The results showed that vascular compression resulted in significant differences in blood flow status localized within the vessel. Vascular compression causes the blood boosting index to fluctuate and the valve displacement values are 135% and 158% greater than the lower VPL, respectively. At the same time, vascular compression weakened vortex intensity, accelerated material transport and response, and improved the treatment. Compared with low VPL, the therapeutic efficacy increased by 7% and 15%, respectively. In addition, when the dose of the drug is high, different injection times can increase the therapeutic effect to different degrees, with a maximum difference of 12%. Our in vitro experiments are similar to the results obtained by numerical simulation, which can verify the reliability of numerical simulation. The computational model proposed and the experimental platform designed in this study have the potential to assist in clinical medication prediction in different venous thromboembolism patients.