This document discusses cerebral aneurysms, which are bulges in blood vessel walls in the brain that can fill with blood. While usually asymptomatic, aneurysms can rupture, causing a stroke or pressure on the brain. To treat aneurysms, doctors thread a catheter through arteries to the site and insert platinum coils to block blood flow and cause clotting, supported by a stent. The complex brain vasculature makes this a difficult procedure. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are being used to model blood flow and forces to better understand and treat aneurysms, using open source software to create 3D models from medical images. Results will be compared to experimental and clinical data.

1. Khambrel Simpson
11/07/2016
Research done under: Dr. John Ekaterinaris

2.  Cerebral Aneurysms are blood
vessel walls in the brain which
balloon out and then fill with
blood.
 Aneurysms are not always life
threatening but can become so if
they rupture.
 Rupture can cause stroke, or nerve
damage. However, it most often
causes a fluid buildup in the skull,
applying pressure to the Brain.

3.  A catheter is inserted, and
threaded through arteries to the
site of the aneurysm.
 Arteries in the brain have a
complex structure, and threading
the stent requires precision and
specialized tools
 Platinum coils are inserted into the
aneurysm blocking blood flow and
forcing the blood to clot. In turn,
the stent is placed to stop the coil
from protruding into the parent
vessel.

4.  The complex network of blood vessels makes this a costly procedure, and
doctors currently have a rating a system to determine which aneurysms
should be operated upon, and which left alone.
 Furthermore, the complex geometry makes it difficult to determine where
aneurysms are likely to form.
 It is difficult to determine blood velocities in the brain without expensive
medical imaging, and even then the resolution is less reliable within small
capillaries.

5.  Develop a CFD simulation of blood flow
through a cerebral aneurysm.
 The CFD simulation must utilize
Wormersley solution for pulsatile flow
at the blood vessel inlet.
 The velocity and pressure of the fluid
will be documented and forces on the
arterial wall computed.
 The simulation will utilize viscous flow,
and assume laminar flow.
 The results will be compared to either
clinical data and a test section of a
straight cylindrical artery will be
compared to analytical results from
McDonalds Blood Flow Through
Arteries.

6.  SimVascular is an open source
code designed to take medical
images and develop 3-D models
of arterial trees.
 These 3-D models can have a
number of Boundary Conditions
placed at their inlets including
that of a Wormersley solution
with a number of Fourier
modes.

7.  Meshes of arteries representing
a straight artery, stenosis, and
aneurysms have been created.
 The CFD simulation is being
refined so that it can be
compared to the experimental
and analytical data from Blood
Flow in Arteries.
 Next Data from existing
aneurysms will be analyzed and
compared to clinical data.
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8.  “Mechanics of Circulation”
<http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/k.parker/homepage/Mechanics%20of
%20the%20Circulation/Chap_05/_Chapter_05.htm>
 “MR Angiography”
<http://www.imp.unierlangen.de/mri/en/projects_mra.html>
 Nichols, Wilmer W., and Michael F. O'Rourke. McDonald's Blood Flow in
Arteries: Theoretical, Experimental and Clinical Principles. London: Hodder
Education, 2011. Print.
 Novitzke, Jill “A Patient Guide to Brain Stent Placement.” NCBI
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317336/>
 "SimVascular." SimVascular. SimTk, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
<http://simvascular.github.io/>.