A Continuum Approach With Adaptive Mesh Refinement for Platelet Plug Formation

Area of Science:

• Computational fluid dynamics
• Biomedical engineering
• Hemostasis and thrombosis research

Background:

• Platelet plug formation is vital for primary hemostasis following vascular injury.
• Accurate and efficient simulation of this process is crucial for personalized medicine.
• Current models face challenges in balancing accuracy with computational cost for patient-specific applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a continuum-based computational model for simulating platelet plug formation.
• To achieve both high accuracy and computational efficiency in simulating thrombosis.
• To enable patient-specific simulations for improved medical interventions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a stabilized finite element method within the Variational Multiscale framework for blood flow dynamics.
• Modeled blood as a non-Newtonian fluid, including transport of platelets and agonists.
• Incorporated an extra stress term to represent the platelet plug as a rigid body influencing Navier-Stokes equations.
• Employed anisotropic mesh adaptation for high-resolution boundary representation and reduced computational cost.

Main Results:

• The model accurately simulates platelet plug formation and its effect on blood flow.
• Anisotropic mesh adaptation significantly reduces computational expense.
• Validated against 2D benchmarks and demonstrated scalability in a 3D thrombosis scenario.
• Showcased precision in simulating thrombosis under complex hemodynamic conditions.

Conclusions:

• The developed model offers a novel, accurate, and computationally feasible solution for simulating platelet plug formation.
• It effectively balances model fidelity with efficiency, particularly for patient-specific scenarios.
• This approach is a transformative tool for advancing personalized medicine in thrombosis treatment and intervention.