A Monte Carlo-Based 3D Whole Lung Model for Aerosol Deposition Studies: Implementation and Validation

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary medicine
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Pharmacokinetics

Background:

• Optimizing orally inhaled drug products requires understanding aerosol transport and deposition in the human bronchial tree.
• Realistic simulation of aerosol behavior is crucial for drug delivery device design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a Monte Carlo-based statistical deposition model for simulating aerosol transport and deposition in a 3D human bronchial tree.
• To enable the simulation of complex inhalation maneuvers and incorporate various lung pathologies.

Main Methods:

• A Monte Carlo-based statistical deposition model was developed to simulate aerosol transport and deposition.
• The model utilizes stochastically generated bronchial trees or patient-specific airway data.
• Heuristic airflow splitting rules and an alveolation index control ventilation, with options to model pathologies.

Main Results:

• The model successfully simulates aerosol transport and deposition in healthy subjects.
• Validation was performed against total, regional, lobar, and sub-lobar deposition data.
• The model accommodates realistic inhalation maneuvers, including breath-holding and exhalation.

Conclusions:

• The developed Monte Carlo model provides a detailed picture of aerosol deposition in the bronchial tree.
• This tool is valuable for designing and optimizing orally inhaled drug products.
• The model's ability to incorporate pathologies offers potential for studying disease-specific drug delivery.