CFD Simulations of Radioembolization: A Proof-of-Concept Study on the Impact of the Hepatic Artery Tree Truncation

Unai Lertxundi, Jorge Aramburu, Julio Ortega, Macarena Rodríguez-Fraile, Bruno Sangro, José Ignacio Bilbao and Raúl Antón
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Unai Lertxundi: Mechanical Engineering Department, TECNUN Escuela de Ingeniería, Universidad de Navarra, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Jorge Aramburu: Mechanical Engineering Department, TECNUN Escuela de Ingeniería, Universidad de Navarra, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Julio Ortega: Escuela de Ingeniería Mecánica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Quilpué 01567, Chile
Macarena Rodríguez-Fraile: IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
Bruno Sangro: IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
José Ignacio Bilbao: IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
Raúl Antón: Mechanical Engineering Department, TECNUN Escuela de Ingeniería, Universidad de Navarra, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: Radioembolization (RE) is a treatment for patients with liver cancer, one of the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. RE consists of the transcatheter intraarterial infusion of radioactive microspheres, which are injected at the hepatic artery level and are transported in the bloodstream, aiming to target tumors and spare healthy liver parenchyma. In paving the way towards a computer platform that allows for a treatment planning based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the current simulation (model preprocess, model solving, model postprocess) times (of the order of days) make the CFD-based assessment non-viable. One of the approaches to reduce the simulation time includes the reduction in size of the simulated truncated hepatic artery. In this study, we analyze for three patient-specific hepatic arteries the impact of reducing the geometry of the hepatic artery on the simulation time. Results show that geometries can be efficiently shortened without impacting greatly on the microsphere distribution.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; radioembolization; hemodynamics; liver cancer; hepatic artery; computational cost analysis; personalized medicine; patient specific (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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