Computational study of intravenous magnetic drug targeting using implanted magnetizable stent

Abstract Magnetic carriers for guiding, delivery, and capturing of drugs to desired place attract interest in the field of smart treatment of various pathological conditions. Presented paper, therefore, deals with one such application with the theoretical model of magnetic fluid flow through vessel bifurcation with one arm treated with ferromagnetic vascular stent placed in an external originally homogeneous magnetic field. This flow was described as laminar Newtonian incompressible continuum of the magnetic many-bead system, with Reynolds number ≈ 1 $\approx 1$ , using magnetic force variant of the Nernst–Planck equation coupled with the Navier–Stokes equations, solved numerically by the finite element method (FEM). This approach allowed us to quantify capturing efficiency of magnetic beads in each arm of bifurcation vessels. Results show reduction of the number of magnetic beads entering as well as leaving the arm treated with stent in comparison with the untreated one. For stented bifurcation arm, the significant amount of beads are captured to its luminal surface, which may be used for drug delivery using magnetic carriers.