Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations to Inform Cancer Therapeutics

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Science
• Oncology

Background:

• Effective drug and radiation delivery via bloodstream is crucial for cancer therapies.
• Understanding particle transport in blood and tissue is essential for treatment optimization.
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulates blood flow and drug transport under realistic conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review applications of CFD in cancer therapy.
• To explore CFD's role in transarterial embolization, tumor perfusion, and organ-on-a-chip systems.
• To identify challenges and opportunities for integrating CFD in cancer treatment.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on CFD applications in cancer therapy.
• Analysis of CFD's utility in predicting microsphere transport and dose distribution for radioembolization.
• Examination of CFD's role in modeling tumor perfusion and vascular dynamics in organ-on-a-chip systems.

Main Results:

• CFD aids in predicting microsphere transport and dose distribution in radioembolization, helping to spare vital organs.
• CFD modeling enhances understanding of tumor perfusion and drug dispersion in vascular systems.
• CFD is valuable for simulating biological processes in organ-on-a-chip models.

Conclusions:

• CFD is a versatile tool for optimizing cancer therapies by simulating blood flow and drug transport.
• Challenges include data requirements, computational cost, and multiscale modeling.
• Integrating CFD with imaging and AI offers future potential for personalized cancer treatment.