A simplified computational liver perfusion model, with applications to organ preservation

Advanced liver preservation strategies could revolutionize liver transplantation by extending preservation time, thereby allowing for broader availability and better matching of transplants. However, developing new cryopreservation protocols requires exploration of a complex design space, further complicated by the scarcity of real human livers to experiment upon. We aim to create computational models of the liver to aid in the development of new cryopreservation protocols. Towards this goal, we present an approach for generating 3D models of the liver vasculature by building upon the space colonization algorithm. Additionally, we introduce the concept of a super lobule which enables a computational abstraction of biological liver lobules. User-tunable parameters allow for vasculatures of varying depth and topology to be generated. In each model, we solve for a common lumped resistance value assigned to the super lobules, allowing the overall physiological blood pressure and flow rate through the liver to be preserved. We demonstrate our approach's ability to maintain consistency between models of varying depth. Finally, we simulate steady state machine perfusion of the generated models and demonstrate how they can be used to quickly test the effect of different boundary conditions when designing organ preservation protocols.