Exploring therapy options with the interactive simulation of intra -aneurysmal blood flow on the GPU

Abstract

Occlusional performance of sole endoluminal stenting of intracranial aneurysms is controversially discussed in literature. Simulation of blood flow has been studied to shed light on possible causal attributions. The outcome however largely depends on various free parameters which all have considerable impact on simulation results. The current study is therefore conducted to find ways to define parameters and efficiently explore the huge parameter space with Lattice Boltzmann Methods on the GPU. A interactive simulation to assess flow and aneurysmal vorticity may result in a deeper understanding of blood flow and may also lead to more accurate information about factors that influence conditions for stenting of intracranial aneurysms. To analyse initial simulation results, simplifying models based on key features of MRI geometry and medical expert knowledge are used.