From Medical Images to CFD Meshes

. Several image processing operators are combined with various computational geometry techniques, in order to quickly generate discrete surface representations of arteries from medical images. These surface representations are then used to generate finite element meshes suitable for CFD calculations of blood flow in arteries. Keywords. Mesh Generation, Hemodynamics, Medical Images. 1 Introduction The proper flow of blood through the human body is directly related to wellbeing and health. Blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to muscles and tissues, and removes residues and other harmful substances from the cells. The obstruction of blood flow leads to several common diseases [1]: Atherosclerosis, a disease of large and medium size arteries [2, 3, 4], is the main cause of death in the U.S. and most of the world [5]. Clinical observations have shown that atherosclerosis has a pattern which is of local nature and that sites of branching, high curvature and bifurcation are associated ..