From imaging to simulation: a framework applied to simulate the blood flow in the carotids

Abstract

In this work we present a methodology to extract information from medical imaging and use it for hemodynamical simulation in arteries. Based on in-vivo magnetic resonance images (MRI), the velocity of the blood flow has been measured at different positions and times. Also, the anatomy of the vessel has been converted into a volume mesh suitable for numerical modeling. This data has been used to solve computationally the dynamics of the fluid inside the artery in healthy and pathologic cases. As an application, we have developed a computational model within the carotids. The next step in the pipeline will be to extend the simulation to fluidstructure interaction (FSI) to find the parameters in an atherosclerotic plaque that could lead to rupture.