Real-time hybrid cutting with dynamic fluid visualization for virtual surgery

It is widely accepted that a reform in medical teaching must be made to meet today's high volume training requirements. Virtual simulation offers a potential method of providing such trainings and some current medical training simulations integrate haptic and visual feedback to enhance procedure learning. The purpose of this project is to explore the capability of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to develop a training simulator for surgical cutting and bleeding in a general surgery

Overcoming conventional modeling limitations using image- driven lattice-boltzmann method simulations for biophysical applications

The challenges involved in modeling biological systems are significant and push the boundaries of conventional modeling. This is because biological systems are distinctly complex, and their emergent properties are results of the interplay of numerous components/processes. Unfortunately, conventional modeling approaches are often limited by their inability to capture all these complexities. By using in vivo data derived from biomedical imaging, image-based modeling is able to overcome this limitation. In this work, a combination of imaging data with the Lattice-Boltzmann Method for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is applied to tissue engineering and thrombogenesis. Using this approach, some of the unanswered questions in both application areas are resolved. In the first application, numerical differences between two types of boundary conditions: “wall boundary condition” (WBC) and “periodic boundary condition” (PBC), which are commonly utilized for approximating shear stresses in tissue engineering scaffold simulations is investigated. Surface stresses in 3D scaffold reconstructions, obtained from high resolution microcomputed tomography images are calculated for both boundary condition types and compared with the actual whole scaffold values via image-based CFD simulations. It is found that, both boundary conditions follow the same spatial surface stress patterns as the whole scaffold simulations. However, they under-predict the absolute stress values approximately by a factor of two. Moreover, it is found that the error grows with higher scaffold porosity. Additionally, it is found that the PBC always resulted in a lower error than the WBC. In a second tissue engineering study, the dependence of culture time on the distribution and magnitude of fluid shear in tissue scaffolds cultured under flow perfusion is investigated. In the study, constructs are destructively evaluated with assays for cellularity and calcium deposition, imaged using µCT and reconstructed for CFD simulations. It is found that both the shear stress distributions within scaffolds consistently increase with culture time and correlate with increasing levels of mineralized tissues within the scaffold constructs as seen in calcium deposition data and µCT reconstructions. In the thrombogenesis application, detailed analysis of time lapse microscopy images showing yielding of thrombi in live mouse microvasculature is performed. Using these images, image-based CFD modeling is performed to calculate the fluid-induced shear stresses imposed on the thrombi’s surfaces by the surrounding blood flow. From the results, estimates of the yield stress (A critical parameter for quantifying the extent to which thrombi material can resist deformation and breakage) are obtained for different blood vessels. Further, it is shown that the yielding observed in thrombi occurs mostly in the outer shell region while the inner core remains intact. This suggests that the core material is different from the shell. To that end, we propose an alternative mechanism of thrombogenesis which could help explain this difference. Overall, the findings from this work reveal that image-based modeling is a versatile approach which can be applied to different biomedical application areas while overcoming the difficulties associated with conventional modeling

Continuous Modeling of Arterial Platelet Thrombus Formation Using a Spatial Adsorption Equation

In this study, we considered a continuous model of platelet thrombus growth in an arteriole. A special model describing the adhesion of platelets in terms of their concentration was derived. The applications of the derived model are not restricted to only describing arterial platelet thrombus formation; the model can also be applied to other similar adhesion processes. The model reproduces an auto-wave solution in the one-dimensional case; in the two-dimensional case, in which the surrounding flow is taken into account, the typical torch- like thrombus is reproduced. The thrombus shape and the growth velocity are determined by the model parameters. We demonstrate that the model captures the main properties of the thrombus growth behavior and provides us a better understanding of which mechanisms are important in the mechanical nature of the arterial thrombus growth

Modeling and Numerical Simulation of the clot detachment from a blood vessel wall

Dans ce mémoire, nous proposons un modèle pour étudier numériquement le comportement du sang, qui est considéré comme un fluide newtonien incompressible, en présence d’un caillot attaché à une paroi vasculaire. Le but de cette étude est de savoir si des régimes d’écoulement différents peuvent provoquer la décollement d’un caillot d’un mur de vaisseau ou conduire à un état stable. Dans le Chapitre 1, nous donnons une revue de la littérature sur les études précédentes, la modélisation de la coagulation sanguine, des caillots sanguins dans le système vasculaire, l’adhésion plaquettaire et l’agrégation et la formation de caillots pathologiques. Notre travail repose principalement sur une partie du modèle mathématique donné par Bajd et Serša [3], qui est présenté dans le chapitre 1. Ensuite, nous décrirons la modélisation mathématique du fluide représentant le sang et le solide représentant le caillot au chapitre 2. Le troisième chapitre se concentrera sur l’approche numérique consistant en une méthode de projection et la méthode de limite immergée [36] pour résoudre les équations de Navier-Stokes. Enfin, au Chapitre 4, nous discuterons des résultats et donnerons des conclusions sur l’influence de différents régimes d’écoulement sur la stabilité du caillot.In this thesis we propose a model to numerically study the behavior of blood, which is considered as an incompressible Newtonian fluid, in the presence of a clot attached to a vessel wall. The purpose of this study is to find out whether different flow regimes may cause a clot to detach from a vessel wall or it would lead to a stable state. In Chapter 1, we give a literature review of previous studies modeling blood coagulation, blood clots in the vascular system, platelet adhesion and aggregation and pathological clot formation. Our work is mainly based upon some part of the mathematical model given by Bajd and Serša [3], which is presented in Chapter 1. Then, we will describe the mathematical modeling of the fluid presenting the blood and the solid representing the clot in Chapter 2. The third chapter will focus on the numerical approach consisting of a projection method and the immersed boundary method [36] for solving the Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, in Chapter 4, we will discuss the results and give conclusions about the influence of different flow regimes on the clot stability

Research on real-time physics-based deformation for haptic-enabled medical simulation

This study developed a multiple effective visuo-haptic surgical engine to handle a variety of surgical manipulations in real-time. Soft tissue models are based on biomechanical experiment and continuum mechanics for greater accuracy. Such models will increase the realism of future training systems and the VR/AR/MR implementations for the operating room

Innovations in Traumatic Hemorrhage

Traumatic hemorrhagic injuries present a great problem to humanity and a challenge to medicine in the modern world. Current methods of treating these injuries in the field are ineffective and often extremely overkill or injurious. These methods are particularly inadequate when applied to the continuous high pressure bleeding that occurs from arterial wounds. Our project focuses on lowering the barriers to entry to innovation in the field of bleeding treatment by creating a low cost model of the human circulatory system. This model can function as a low-cost testing platform for novel bleeding treatments developed by companies and individuals that do not have the resources to regularly purchase extremely expensive cardiovascular simulators. To this end we designed a tripartite model which included a heart-simulating pump, vessel-simulating vasculature, and blood-mimicking fluid. In order to ensure our device functioned as a testing platform, we performed some preliminary solution candidate tests on it which had the ancillary benefit of identifying one effective but biologically unsafe solution that could be translated into a safe and efficacious future solution. Ultimately we found that our system functioned well as a testing platform for traumatic injury treatments and that standard silicone sealant administered by injection into the vessels had the greatest efficacy in stopping bleeding