Modeling Blood Flow Through Intracranial Aneurysms: A Comparison of Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Viscosity

The effect of non-Newtonian blood flow on the value of wall shear stress (WSS) of an intracranial aneurysm was investigated using computational fluid dynamics. For cerebral arteries, blood is often assumed to behave as a Newtonian fluid, though the effects of non-Newtonian flow on the prediction of areas of low WSS associated with aneurysm rupture are not clear. Geometry was based on published data and a Newtonian model validated against experimental results. Newtonian, unrestricted non-Newtonian, and viscosity-limited non-Newtonian models were compared under pulsatile conditions. Peak WSS of the Newtonian model was 28.7 Pa, and the lowest value of peak WSS for the unrestricted non-Newtonian models was 16.5 Pa. Viscosity-limited non-Newtonian models predicted flow velocity and WSS similar to those predicted by the Newtonian model in high-shear-rate regions, though maximum areas of critically low WSS were up to 42 % smaller than those predicted by the Newtonian model. In conclusion, viscosity limits are required to prevent excessive thinning of non-Newtonian models and the effects of non-Newtonian viscosity are significant for blood flow within low-shear-rate regions of an intracranial aneurysm.

[1]  N. Fatouraee,et al.  Combining numerical and clinical methods to assess aortic valve hemodynamics during exercise , 2014, Perfusion.

[2]  D. Ku.  BLOOD FLOW IN ARTERIES , 1997 .

[3]  Xu Bai-nan,et al.  Hemodynamics model of fluid–solid interaction in internal carotid artery aneurysms , 2010, Neurosurgical Review.

[4]  K. Takayama,et al.  Computational replicas: anatomic reconstructions of cerebral vessels as volume numerical grids at three-dimensional angiography. , 2004, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[5]  Z. Sani,et al.  Effect of exercise on blood flow through the aortic valve: a combined clinical and numerical study , 2014, Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering.

[6]  M. Hussain,et al.  Relationship between power law coefficients and major blood constituents affecting the whole blood viscosity , 1999, Journal of Biosciences.

[7]  K. Katada,et al.  Magnitude and Role of Wall Shear Stress on Cerebral Aneurysm: Computational Fluid Dynamic Study of 20 Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysms , 2004, Stroke.

[8]  Barbara M. Johnston,et al.  Non-Newtonian blood flow in human right coronary arteries: steady state simulations. , 2004, Journal of biomechanics.

[9]  D. Rubenstein,et al.  In Silico Biofluid Mechanics , 2012 .

[10]  J. Xiang,et al.  High WSS or Low WSS? Complex Interactions of Hemodynamics with Intracranial Aneurysm Initiation, Growth, and Rupture: Toward a Unifying Hypothesis , 2014, American Journal of Neuroradiology.

[11]  I. G. Currie.  Fundamental mechanics of fluids , 1974 .

[12]  François Proust,et al.  Anévrisme intracrânien non rompu et exclusion microchirurgicale : justification d’une étude randomisée chirurgie versus histoire naturelle , 2008 .

[13]  A. Khosravi,et al.  Estimation of maximum intraventricular pressure: a three-dimensional fluid–structure interaction model , 2013, Biomedical engineering online.

[14]  Daniel M Espino,et al.  Evaluation of a transient, simultaneous, arbitrary Lagrange–Euler based multi-physics method for simulating the mitral heart valve , 2014, Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering.

[15]  H. Langtangen,et al.  Direct numerical simulation of transitional flow in a patient-specific intracranial aneurysm. , 2011, Journal of biomechanics.

[16]  J. Laragh,et al.  Elevated blood viscosity in patients with borderline essential hypertension. , 1983, Hypertension.

[17]  R. P. Chhabra,et al.  Non-Newtonian Flow and Applied Rheology: Engineering Applications , 2008 .

[18]  J. Ditzel,et al.  Blood-viscosity in diabetic patients. , 1966, Lancet.

[19]  I. Owen,et al.  Dynamic scaling of unsteady shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluid flows in a large-scale model of a distal anastomosis , 2007 .

[20]  P. Cabrales,et al.  Effects of plasma viscosity modulation on cardiac function during moderate hemodilution , 2010, Asian journal of transfusion science.

[21]  M W Collins,et al.  Non-Newtonian and flow pulsatility effects in simulation models of a stented intracranial aneurysm , 2011, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine.

[22]  N. Kojic,et al.  Computer Modeling in Bioengineering: Theoretical Background, Examples and Software , 2008 .

[23]  O. Bueno,et al.  Influence of blood viscosity to cerebral blood flow in older humans compared to young subjects , 2012, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[24]  G. Ferguson,et al.  The Hemodynamic Importance of the Geometry of Bifurcations in the Circle of Willis (Glass Model Studies) , 1972, Stroke.

[25]  E Shirani,et al.  Numerical simulation of blood pulsatile flow in a stenosed carotid artery using different rheological models. , 2011, Journal of biomechanics.

[26]  R. Glowinski,et al.  Numerical simulation of rheology of red blood cell rouleaux in microchannels. , 2009, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[27]  S. Svetina,et al.  Aggregation of red blood cells: From rouleaux to clot formation , 2013, 1310.1483.

[28]  Seongwon Kang,et al.  A fluid-structure interaction analysis on hemodynamics in carotid artery based on patient-specific clinical data , 2012, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology.

[29]  Kazuo Tanishita,et al.  Fluid‐induced wall shear stress in anthropomorphic brain aneurysm models: MR phase‐contrast study at 3 T , 2007, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[30]  S Chien,et al.  Blood Viscosity: Influence of Erythrocyte Aggregation , 1967, Science.

[31]  A. Valencia,et al.  Blood flow dynamics in patient-specific cerebral aneurysm models: the relationship between wall shear stress and aneurysm area index. , 2008, Medical engineering & physics.

[32]  E. Merrill,et al.  Influence of flow properties of blood upon viscosity-hematocrit relationships. , 1962, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[33]  Alison M. Forsyth,et al.  Multiscale approach to link red blood cell dynamics, shear viscosity, and ATP release , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[34]  B. Geurts,et al.  Simulation of Pulsatile Flow in Cerebral Aneurysms: From Medical Images to Flow and Forces , 2012 .

[35]  Shewaferaw S Shibeshi,et al.  The Rheology of Blood Flow in a Branched Arterial System. , 2005, Applied rheology.

[36]  F. N. van de Vosse,et al.  The influence of the non-Newtonian properties of blood on the flow in large arteries: steady flow in a carotid bifurcation model. , 1999, Journal of biomechanics.

[37]  Hervé Delingette,et al.  Subject-specific knee joint model: Design of an experiment to validate a multi-body finite element model , 2011, The Visual Computer.

[38]  M C M Rutten,et al.  Complex flow patterns in a real‐size intracranial aneurysm phantom: phase contrast MRI compared with particle image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics , 2012, NMR in biomedicine.

[39]  J. Boyd,et al.  Comparison of Newtonian and non-Newtonian flows in a two-dimensional carotid artery model using the lattice Boltzmann method , 2007, Physics in medicine and biology.

[40]  M. Gimbrone,et al.  Mechanical Forces and the Endothelium , 1999 .

[41]  Marcel C M Rutten,et al.  The Influence of Flow, Vessel Diameter, and Non-Newtonian Blood Viscosity on the Wall Shear Stress in a Carotid Bifurcation Model for Unsteady Flow , 2005, Investigative radiology.

[42]  Chen-Hao Wang,et al.  A lattice Boltzmann approach for the non-Newtonian effect in the blood flow , 2011, Comput. Math. Appl..

[43]  O. C. Zienkiewicz,et al.  The Finite Element Method for Fluid Dynamics , 2005 .

[44]  Yuri Bazilevs,et al.  A fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction simulation of cerebral aneurysms , 2010 .

[45]  C. Kleinstreuer,et al.  Blood flow and structure interactions in a stented abdominal aortic aneurysm model. , 2005, Medical engineering & physics.

[46]  J. Madsen,et al.  The pulsating brain: A review of experimental and clinical studies of intracranial pulsatility , 2011, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS.