A patient-specific computational simulation of pulmonary embolism using radiological images

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is one of the most prevalent diseases amid hospitalized patients and takes many people lives annually. However, this phenomenon has not been investigated in the field of biomechanics so far and insufficient information is available about hemodynamic factors affecting this phenomenon. Inexplicit signs and symptoms of this illness make it intricate to be diagnosed. In this research, a patient-specific anatomical model of pulmonary arteries has been constructed from computed tomography images (CT images). The fluid-structure interactions method was used to simulate motion of the blood clot. In addition, Navier-Stokes equations, as the governing equations, have been solved in an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation. Furthermore, viscoelastic parameters were adopted in accordance with the red blood clot (stemmed from deep veins) properties for the structure model (emboli). Results revealed that the maximum shear stress magnitude applied on the embolus equals 957.56 Pa at 0.46841 s that was occurred when the clot plow into the wall of the artery. Based on the residence time of high magnitudes of stress in the clot, some predictions on clot lysis or development may be elaborated. In addition, the average shear stress of the arterial wall was reduced from 1.7697 to 1.02761 Pa due to the presence of the embolus. This reduction may lead to such phenomena as high pulmonary arterial resistance, low pulmonary arterial compliance, endothelial dysfunction, and consequently cause right heart dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) if different clots repeatedly pass through the arteries.