International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering最新文献

This study introduces an innovative real-time surgical planning platform optimized for the treatment of arterial aneurysms using intrasaccular flow disruption (IFD) devices. This platform incorporates a cutting-edge fast virtual deployment (FVD) algorithm alongside a discrete element method (DEM) for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses. It facilitates the efficient virtual deployment of IFD devices, minimizing computational overhead while allowing for comprehensive postoperative hemodynamic efficacy assessment. The FVD algorithm employs an adaptive wall adherence and curvature control system, validated through both idealized and patient-specific model simulations. Post-treatment hemodynamic shifts are quantified by discretizing device wire filaments into discrete particles, which are then integrated with blood flow simulations for enhanced realism. The FVD algorithm efficiently executes virtual deployment of IFD devices within seconds, producing DEM-CFD computational models that align closely with bench testing, traditional Finite Element Method (FEM) analyses, and angiographic data. DEM-CFD outcomes link occlusion effectiveness to post-implantation hemodynamic characteristics, influenced by the aneurysm's unique anatomical features and clinical intervention strategies. The proposed platform demonstrates substantial improvement in balancing computational efficiency with analytical precision. It provides a viable and innovative framework for real-time surgical planning, presenting significant implications for clinical application in arterial aneurysm management.

This study investigates the pulse compression technique to improve the performance of magneto-acousto-electrical tomography (MAET) with magnetic field measurements through numerical studies. Emphasizing the effects of specific coil configuration on MAET measurements, the study conducts evaluations using a linear phased array (LPA) transducer and numerical breast models with tumor inclusion. It provides feasibility and a detailed comparative analysis of various excitations, including linear frequency modulated (LFM), Barker code, and Golay code excitations in MAET. To simulate experimental conditions, additive White Gaussian noise is added to the MAET signal detected by the receiver coils. The results obtained from the LPA steering angle at 0° and the reconstructed B-mode MAET images using the pulse compression technique lead to improvements compared with conventional single-cycle excitation. The computed mean signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvements for LFM, Barker code, and Golay code excitations in B-mode MAET images for 10,000 iterations are 7.42, 8.36, and 8.44 dB, respectively, compared with single-cycle excitation. Similarly, the mean contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) improvements for these excitations in B-mode MAET images are 1.43, 1.63, and 1.9 dB, respectively. The results demonstrate that Golay code is superior in CNR and image quality metrics, while Golay and Barker codes have comparable SNR and outperform LFM. The research shows that the coil configuration significantly impacts tumor detection. With Golay code excitation, detecting a tumor as small as 5 mm × 2 mm at a depth of 33 mm with an SNR of 6.38 dB is possible, achieving an axial resolution of 2 mm.

Precision in force simulationis critical for forecasting tooth movement and optimizing orthodontic treatment strategies. While traditional techniques have provided valuable insights, there remains a need for improved methodologies that can seamlessly integrate with fixed orthodontic practices. This study aims to refine orthodontic force simulation techniques by integrating a nodal displacement approach within finite element analysis, specifically designed to enhance prediction accuracy in tooth movement and optimize orthodontic treatment planning. Three-dimensional patient-specific models of the Tooth, Periodontal Ligament, and Bone Complex (TPBC) of five volunteers were created, along with models of brackets and wires. The simulation involved an initial step of estimating node displacements to align the archwire with the brackets, followed by a subsequent step to attain the required tooth movement and determine the orthodontic force. Experimental validation of the simulation results was performed using an orthodontic force tester (OFT). Utilizing the nodal displacement approach, the simulation successfully positioned the archwire onto the brackets. When benchmarked against the OFT, 80% of the simulated force directions exhibited angular discrepancies of less than 5°. Additionally, the absolute differences in force magnitude reached 20.06 cN, and in moments, up to 71.76 cN mm. The relative differences were as high as 9.55% for force and 13.83% for moments. These findings represent an improvement of up to 10.45% in force accuracy and 8.87% in moment accuracy compared to median values reported in most recent literature. In this research, a nodal displacement methodology was employed to simulate orthodontic forces with precision across the dental arch. The results demonstrate the approache's potential to enhance the accuracy of force prediction in orthodontic treatment planning, thereby advancing our understanding of orthodontic biomechanics.

The blast shock waves generated by the explosion are severe threat to soldiers on the battlefield, while the helmets currently equipped for the soldiers cannot offer sufficient blast protection. Some helmet pads have been developed to improve the protection performance of the combat helmets against shock waves. However, it remains unclear how to design the helmet pads to protect the head more effectively against blast shock waves. This study aims to design a new mechanics-guided helmet pad and evaluate its protection performance by numerical simulations. The design of the new helmet pad is guided by the oblique reflection theory (ORT), and the advanced combat helmet (ACH) pad is applied for comparison. The protection performance of the pads against blast waves from two directions (frontal and lateral) was investigated. The differences in the distributions of overpressure inside the helmet using two types of pads were analyzed, and the intracranial pressure (ICP) of head was compared. The ORT-guided pads can reduce the overpressure inside the helmet, minimizing the possibility of blast-induced traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, the underwash phenomenon can also be controlled when the new pads are applied. The results in this study provide an important theoretical basis and some guidelines on the design of helmet pads for the protection of human brain from blast shock waves.

In this study, 18 rib cages (8 males and 10 females) were segmented from computer tomography (CT) images. In order to analyze the potential differences in thoracic biomechanics during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a set of numerical experiments was conducted using finite elements (FE). Compression forces were applied at different points on the rib cage. Results indicated that the optimal compression area for both sexes is the sternum at the 5th rib level, requiring the least force to achieve the desired compression depth. Males required greater force than females. Among females, those with lower width/depth ratios (more rounded thoracic shape) required less force compared to those with higher ratios (more oval-shaped thorax).

Reported in this paper is a cutting-edge computational investigation into the influence of geometric characteristics on abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture risk, beyond the traditional measure of maximum aneurysm diameter. A Comprehensive fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis was employed to assess risk factors in a range of patient scenarios, with the use of three-dimensional (3D) AAA models reconstructed from patient-specific aortic data and finite element method. Wall shear stress (WSS), and its derivatives such as time-averaged WSS (TAWSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI), relative residence time (RRT) and transverse WSS (transWSS) offer insights into the force dynamics acting on the AAA wall. Emphasis is placed on these WSS-based metrics and seven key geometric indices. By correlating these geometric discrepancies with biomechanical phenomena, this study highlights the novel and profound impact of geometry on risk prediction. This study demonstrates the necessity of a multidimensional assessment approach, future efforts should complement these findings with experimental validations for an applicable approach for clinical use.

This study presents an investigation of an innovative microfluidic flow separator using both numerical and experimental approaches to calibrate contrast-enhanced ultrasound scanners. Numerical simulations were conducted using Lagrangian particles tracking and passive scalar transport methodologies using the OpenFOAM software. The experimental validation confirmed the accuracy of the numerical simulations, particularly at an imposed total pressure of $0.7P_0$ , showing an excellent agreement in particle distributions. The study emphasizes the computational efficiency and modeling of passive scalar transport, providing valuable understanding into the behavior of scalar quantities in microfluidic systems. An optimized diffusion coefficient value of ${10}^{-7}{m}^2{s}^{-1}$ was identified, showing its critical role in achieving accurate simulation results and optimizing the performance of microfluidic flow separators for contrast-enhanced ultrasound scanner calibration.

Endovascular coil embolization is the primary therapeutic modality for intracranial aneurysms. Substantial reports have been found regarding the coil packing density and inflow jet. However, the hemodynamic effect of increasing the rate of tamponade in the inflow jet area within the aneurysm remains unclear. In this study, individualized geometries of six intracranial aneurysms were recruited: all six aneurysms were located in the internal carotid artery. Two groups were created by changing the position and orientation of the microcatheter for the release of the third segment of the filling coil. The finite element method was used to simulate coil deployment. Computational fluid dynamics was used to characterize hemodynamics in post-deployment aneurysms. The parameters evaluated included velocity reduction, wall shear stress (WSS), low WSS (LWSS), relative residence time (RRT), flow kinetic energy in the neck region of the aneurysms, and residual flow volume (RFV) in the aneurysms. At the peak time (t = 0.17 s), the targeted deployment group has similar proportion of LWSS area to conventional deployment groups: targeted 78.13% ± 34.59% versus normal 74.20% ± 36.94% (mean ± SD, p = 0.583). The targeted deployment group has a higher RRT area (targeted 16.84% ± 5.58% vs. normal 6.42% ± 5.67% [mean ± SD, p = 0.009]), smaller flow kinetic energy (targeted 9.43 ± 4.33 vs. normal 16.23 ± 5.92 [mean ± SD, p = 0.047]), and a larger RFV in the aneurysms (targeted 35.97 ± 24.35 mm³ vs. normal 25.80 ± 18.94 mm³ [mean ± SD, p = 0.44]). Inflow jets play an important role in the treatment of aneurysms, and deploying filling coils in accordance with inflow jets may result in a better hemodynamic environment.

The mechanisms leading to aneurysm occlusion after treatment with flow-diverting devices are not fully understood. Flow modification induces thrombus formation within the aneurysm cavity, but fibrin can simultaneously accumulate and cover the device scaffold, leading to further flow modification. However, the interplay and relative importance of these processes are not clearly understood. A computational model of fibrin accumulation and flow modification after flow diversion treatment of cerebral aneurysms has been developed under the guidance of in vitro experiments and observations. The model is based on the loose coupling of flow and transport-reaction equations that are solved separately by independent codes. Interaction or reactive terms account for thrombin production from prothrombin stimulated by thrombogenic metallic wires and inhibition by antithrombin as well as fibrin production from fibrinogen stimulated by thrombin and flow shear stress, and fibrin adhesion to device wires and already attached fibrin. The computational model was demonstrated and tested on idealized vessel and aneurysm geometries. The model was able to reproduce the salient features of fibrin accumulation after the deployment of flow-diverting devices in idealized in vitro models of cerebral aneurysms. Namely, fibrin production in regions of high shear stress, initial accumulation at the inflow zone, and progressive occlusion of the device and corresponding flow attenuation. The computational model linking flow dynamics to fibrin production, transport, and adhesion can be used to investigate and better understand the effects that lead to fibrin accumulation and the resulting aneurysm inflow reduction and intra-aneurysmal flow modulation.

Experimental studies on the cellular uptake of nanoparticles (NPs), useful for the investigation of NP-based drug delivery systems, are often difficult to interpret due to the large number of parameters that can contribute to the phenomenon. It is therefore of great interest to identify insignificant parameters to reduce the number of variables used for the design of experiments. In this work, a model of the wrapping of elliptical NPs by the cell membrane is used to compare the influence of the aspect ratio of the NP, the membrane tension, the NP-membrane adhesion, and its variation during the interaction with the NP on the equilibrium state of the wrapping process. Several surrogate models, such as Kriging, Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE), and artificial neural networks (ANN) have been built and compared to emulate the computationally expensive model. Only the ANN-based model outperformed the other approaches by providing much better predictivity metrics and could therefore be used to compute the sensitivity indices. Our results showed that the NP's aspect ratio, the initial NP-membrane adhesion, the membrane tension, and the delay for the increase of the NP-membrane adhesion after receptor dynamics are the main contributors to the cellular internalization of the NP, while the influence of other parameters is negligible.