Simulation of haemodynamic flow in head and neck chemotherapy

In recent years, intra arterial chemotherapy has become an important component in head and neck cancer treatment. However, therapy success can vary significantly and consistent treatment guidelines are missing.

The purpose of this study was to create a computer simulation of the chemical agent injection in the head and neck arteries to investigate the distribution and concentration of the chemical. This is of great interest for medical scientists and vital for prognosis. Realistic three dimensional patient specific geometry was created from image scan data. Engineering principles such as conservation of mass and momentum, turbulence models and a multiphase model were applied in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.

At first, a steady cause and effect study with various turbulence and material models was made without the chemical component. It was discovered, that a non-\Newtonian material model is compulsory for blood. The shear stress transport k-w turbulence model is appropriate for the whole velocity range and of superior robustness.

These conclusions were used in the following two-component transient simulation. ... mehrPulsatile blood flow, turbulence, the chemical agent injection via a catheter and the mixture between blood and the chemical were considered. The principal conclusion was; the modelled catheter position right before the common carotid artery bifurcation produced an ineffective cisplatin distribution consistent throughout all the arteries. Due to high wall shear stress and turbulence at the inner bifurcation wall, serious complications during the treatment could occur, for instance heamolysis or acute vascular endothelial changes.

To the best of the author's knowledge a novel \CFD based approach was introduced, suitable for the optimization and the formulation of treatment guidelines in intra arterial injection chemotherapy. After a required validation, this model can be modified to investigate the influence of various catheter positions and dose rate schemes in future simulations.