Medical Industry – CFD Consultants

CFD in medical technology

KP — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 13:35:02 +0000

CFD in medical technology

In medical technology, flow processes are often decisive: blood, NaCl solutions, disinfectants, air and oxygen are typical fluids. On the one hand, these fluids flow in the human body, on the other hand through technical apparatus such as pumps, artificial heart valves, hose lines, respirators, nebulizers, inhalers, dialyzers, etc. Active substances are dissolved and should be placed in a targeted manner, disinfectants must be used safely yet sparingly, air must be purified, oxygen must be supplied.

On the one hand, the individual shape of blood vessels, for example, plays a major role, while on the other hand, in the development of medical devices it is often details such as production-related gaps or trapped air bases that determine success or failure.

In both cases CFD calculation models provide the necessary insight:

In personalized medicine, for example, the blood vessels of a patient are recorded using imaging techniques and, based on this, a flow simulation is carried out. The result is the blood flow in the individual vessels under consideration, with all local and time-dependent pressures, shear stresses, vortices, backflow and “dead water areas”. The picture on the right shows an example of the blood flow through a cerebral vessel of a patient with a cerebral aneurysm (here you can find our detailed blog post about aneurysm).

Postprocessing with FIELDVIEW

CFD models are an essential part of virtual product development in the development of medical devices. The fluidic function can be checked and optimized, problem areas can be analyzed in detail. This reduces the development risk while increasing product quality. With today’s simulation methods, moving components, smallest gaps, multi-phase flows, mixing and segregation processes, particle and droplet loading, heat transfer and reactions can be represented in almost all size scales. The picture on the right shows e.g. undesired air inclusions (white areas) that form when filling an apparatus. Geometrical factors play an important role here. Physically, the shape of the free surfaces is strongly influenced by the surface tension between liquid and air and by the wall contact angle.

We have been developing such calculation models tailored to the needs of our customers for over 20 years. We combine their specific expertise with our simulation know-how and our physical understanding. Through participation in research projects and cooperation with universities and software providers, our methods are always state-of-the-art.

Contact: Volker Kassera, CFD Consultants GmbH

CFD Consultants GmbH joins Medical Valley Hechingen network

KP — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 07:13:58 +0000

CFD Consultants GmbH is looking forward to the cooperation with the competence network Medical Valley Hechingen, an association of about 45 innovative companies from the field of medical technology, their suppliers and service providers in the Hechingen area and the entire Neckar-Alb region.

By joining the network, there are numerous opportunities for cooperation at the entrepreneurial level, as well as opportunities for personal exchange and comprehensive knowledge and experience transfer.

Due to many years of experience with the calculation of flow processes in the field of medical technology (example: aneurysm), CFD Consultants GmbH contributes the necessary knowledge to the network.

On 18.11.19 our managing director, Dr. Volker Kassera, will give a lecture at a network meeting with the title Flow Simulation in Medical Technology – Applications, Potentials, Limits.

CFD in medicine: How flow calculations can help patients with cerebral aneurysms.

KP — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 06:59:26 +0000

A cerebral aneurysm is a sack-like bulge of the vascular wall of a brain artery. According to the German Stroke Foundation (DSG), about 1.5 million people in Germany live with a brain aneurysm. In most people, the aneurysm remains undetected for the rest of their lives. Aneurysms can remain completely inconspicuous, but can also cause life-threatening bleeding in the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage, a special form of stroke).

Cerebral aneurysm at a branch of a brain artery (Postprocessing with FIELDVIEW)

Even their treatment is not without risk. Here there are two common procedures in which the aneurysm is closed: Neurosurgical, during a small cranial opening using a clamp (“clipping”) or neuroradiological, by advancing a metal spiral using a microcatheter over the inguinal artery to the aneurysm (“coiling”).

And CFD?

It is known that on thin-walled (“vulnerable”) aneurysm regions there is an increased risk of rupture. The correlation between vessel wall thickness and the flow properties of the blood flow is the subject of intensive medical research and empirically proven.

Representation of wall shear stresses. Red areas show high wall shear stresses, blue areas low (Postprocessing with FIELDVIEW)

CFD flow simulations can be used to display flow parameters such as wall shear stresses. With the help of this informations and the formation of scores, conclusions can be drawn about thin-walled areas of the aneurysm with an increased risk of rupture.

CFD supports you with questions like:

Are you going to have surgery or are you waiting? What is the risk of a rupture during an operation? What is the risk of non-treatment?
Clipping or coiling? Which surgical method should be used for the operation?
How should the operation be proceeded? The back of the aneurysm is not visible during surgery. Flow calculations, however, provide information at every point of the vessel.

Streamlines in an aneurysm (Postprocessing with FIELDVIEW)

Currently, the team of the CFD Consultants GmbH, together with the with partners from industry and academia, is involved in a research project to develop a CFD-based method for the detection of cerebral vulnerable aneurysm regions.

The aim of the research project is to develop an independent program with a fully automated workflow whose application in aneurysm treatment will become part of clinical routine and can be used in emergency medicine.

Contact: Klaus-Peter Helbig, CFD Consultants GmbH