Toward Real-Time Simulation of Blood-Coil Interaction during Aneurysm Embolization

Abstract

Over the last decade, remarkable progress has been made in the field of endovascular treatment of aneurysms. Technological advances continue to enable a growing number of patients with cerebral aneurysms to be treated with a variety of endovascular strategies, essentially using detachable platinum coils. Yet, coil embolization remains a very complex medical procedure for which careful planning must be combined with advanced technical skills in order to be successful. In this paper we propose a method for computing the complex blood flow patterns that take place within the aneurysm, and for simulating the interaction of coils with this flow. This interaction is twofold, first involving the impact of the flow on the coil during the initial stages of its deployment, and second concerning the decrease of blood velocity within the aneurysm, as a consequence of coil packing. We also propose an approach to achieve real-time computation of coil-flow bilateral influence, necessary for interactive simulation. This in turns allows to dynamically plan coil embolization for two key steps of the procedure: choice and placement of the first coils, and assessment of the number of coils necessary to reduce aneurysmal blood velocity and wall pressure.

Risk Factors for Recanalization after Coil Embolization

“…Once seen before the embolization, it promotes compaction which is responsible for aneurysm recanalization. Blood flow patterns influence compaction [ 21 ]. Our analysis showed that the complex flow patterns are closely related to the aneurysm shape.…”

“…To find differences between both groups, we examined flow patterns and hemodynamic parameters in all generated models. Such investigations are relevant as compaction relates to flow patterns [ 21 ]. Thus, it can be stated that CFD served as a tool that allowed us to cover two main aspects: (1) visualizing flow hemodynamics in the vicinity of all aneurysm models and performing a qualitative and quantitative comparison of obtained flow solution data and (2) validating whether the morphometric parameters associated with recanalization, indicated by our statistical analysis, result in noticeable changes in flow hemodynamics.…”

SOFA: A Multi-Model Framework for Interactive Physical Simulation

“…As the method relies on particles, the coupling with deformable model can be easily done by repulsion forces (see Figure 3). More advanced fluid models, based on Eulerian approaches, were also implemented in SOFA (see [29] for instance). The flexible structure of Sofa allows the simulation of non-mechanical phenomena such as electrical waves in cardiac electrophysiology.…”