Image-based computational fluid dynamics holds a prominent position in the evaluation of intracranial aneurysms, especially as a promising tool to stratify rupture risk. Current computational fluid dynamics findings correlating both high and low wall shear stress with intracranial aneurysm growth and rupture puzzle researchers and clinicians alike. These conflicting findings may stem from inconsistent parameter definitions, small datasets, and intrinsic complexities in intracranial aneurysm growth and rupture. In Part 1 of this 2-part review, we proposed a unifying hypothesis: both high and low wall shear stress drive intracranial aneurysm growth and rupture through mural cell-mediated and inflammatory cell-mediated destructive remodeling pathways, respectively. In the present report, Part 2, we delineate different wall shear stress parameter definitions and survey recent computational fluid dynamics studies, in light of this mechanistic heterogeneity. In the future, we expect that larger datasets, better analyses, and increased understanding of hemodynamic-biologic mechanisms will lead to more accurate predictive models for intracranial aneurysm risk assessment from computational fluid dynamics.

http://www.ajnr.org/content/ajnr/35/10/1849.full.pdf

CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics or Confounding Factor Dissemination? The Role of Hemodynamics in Intracranial Aneurysm Rupture Risk Assessment

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used for several years to identify mechanical risk factors associated with aneurysmal evolution and rupture as well as to understand flow characteristics before and after surgical treatments in order to help the clinical decision making process. We used the keywords, "CFD" and "aneurysms" to search recent publications since about 2000, and categorized them into (i) studies of rupture risk factors and (ii) investigations of pre- and post-evaluations of surgical treatment with devices like coils and flow diverters (FD). This search enables us to examine the current status of CFD as a clinical tool and to determine if CFD can potentially become an important part of the routine clinical practice for the evaluation and treatment of aneurysms in near future. According to previous reports, it has been argued that CFD has become a quite robust non-invasive tool for the evaluation of surgical devices, especially in the early stages of device design and it has also been applied successfully to the study of rupture risk assessment. However, we find that due to the large number of pre-processing inputs further efforts of validation and reproducibility of CFD with larger clinical datasets are still essential to identify standardized mechanical risk factors. As a result, we identify the following needs to have a robust CFD tool for clinical use: (i) more reliability tests through validation studies, (ii) analyses of larger generalized clinical datasets to find converging universal risk parameters, (iii) fluid structure interaction (FSI) analyses to better understand the detailed vascular remodeling processes associated with aneurysm growth, evolution and rupture, and (iv) better coordinated and organized communications and collaborations between engineers and clinicians.

CFD for evaluation and treatment planning of aneurysms: review of proposed clinical uses and their challenges.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) opens up multiple opportunities to investigate the hemodynamics of the human vascular system. However, due to numerous assumptions the acceptance of CFD among physicians is still limited in practice and validation through comparison is mandatory. Time-dependent quantitative phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging PC-MRI measurements in a healthy volunteer and two intracranial aneurysms were carried out at 3 and 7 Tesla. Based on the acquired images, three-dimensional (3D) models of the aneurysms were reconstructed and used for the numerical simulations. Flow information from the MR measurements were applied as boundary conditions. The four-dimensional (4D) velocity fields obtained by CFD and MRI were qualitatively as well as quantitatively compared including cut planes and vector analyses. For all cases a high similarity of the velocity patterns was observed. Additionally, the quantitative analysis revealed a good agreement between CFD and MRI. Deviations were caused by minor differences between the reconstructed vessel models and the actual lumen. The comparisons between diastole and systole indicate that relative differences between MRI and CFD are intensified with increasing velocity. The findings of this study lead to the conclusion that CFD and MRI agree well in predicting intracranial velocities when realistic geometries and boundary conditions are provided. Due to the considerably higher temporal and spatial resolution of CFD compared to MRI, complex flow patterns can be further investigated in order to evaluate their role with respect to aneurysm formation or rupture. Nevertheless, special care is required regarding the vessel reconstruction since the geometry has a major impact on the subsequent numerical results.

Cerebral Blood Flow in a Healthy Circle of Willis and Two Intracranial Aneurysms: Computational Fluid Dynamics Versus Four-Dimensional Phase-Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging

With the increased availability of computational resources, the past decade has seen a rise in the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for medical applications. There has been an increase in the application of CFD to attempt to predict the rupture of intracranial aneurysms, however, while many hemodynamic parameters can be obtained from these computations, to date, no consistent methodology for the prediction of the rupture has been identified. One particular challenge to CFD is that many factors contribute to its accuracy; the mesh resolution and spatial/temporal discretization can alone contribute to a variation in accuracy. This failure to identify the importance of these factors and identify a methodology for the prediction of ruptures has limited the acceptance of CFD among physicians for rupture prediction. The International CFD Rupture Challenge 2013 seeks to comment on the sensitivity of these various CFD assumptions to predict the rupture by undertaking a comparison of the rupture and blood-flow predictions from a wide range of independent participants utilizing a range of CFD approaches. Twenty-six groups from 15 countries took part in the challenge. Participants were provided with surface models of two intracranial aneurysms and asked to carry out the corresponding hemodynamics simulations, free to choose their own mesh, solver, and temporal discretization. They were requested to submit velocity and pressure predictions along the centerline and on specified planes. The first phase of the challenge, described in a separate paper, was aimed at predicting which of the two aneurysms had previously ruptured and where the rupture site was located. The second phase, described in this paper, aims to assess the variability of the solutions and the sensitivity to the modeling assumptions. Participants were free to choose boundary conditions in the first phase, whereas they were prescribed in the second phase but all other CFD modeling parameters were not prescribed. In order to compare the computational results of one representative group with experimental results, steady-flow measurements using particle image velocimetry (PIV) were carried out in a silicone model of one of the provided aneurysms. Approximately 80% of the participating groups generated similar results. Both velocity and pressure computations were in good agreement with each other for cycle-averaged and peak-systolic predictions. Most apparent "outliers" (results that stand out of the collective) were observed to have underestimated velocity levels compared to the majority of solutions, but nevertheless identified comparable flow structures. In only two cases, the results deviate by over 35% from the mean solution of all the participants. Results of steady CFD simulations of the representative group and PIV experiments were in good agreement. The study demonstrated that while a range of numerical schemes, mesh resolution, and solvers was used, similar flow predictions were observed in the majority of cases. To further validate the computational results, it is suggested that time-dependent measurements should be conducted in the future. However, it is recognized that this study does not include the biological aspects of the aneurysm, which needs to be considered to be able to more precisely identify the specific rupture risk of an intracranial aneurysm.

The Computational Fluid Dynamics Rupture Challenge 2013--Phase II: Variability of Hemodynamic Simulations in Two Intracranial Aneurysms.

High-resolution computational fluid dynamics detects flow instabilities in the carotid siphon: Implications for aneurysm initiation and rupture?

Modeling of flow in intracranial aneurysms (IAs) requires flow information at the model boundaries. In absence of patient-specific measurements, typical or modeled boundary conditions (BCs) are often used. This study investigates the effects of modeled versus patient-specific BCs on modeled hemodynamics within IAs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of five IAs were reconstructed from three-dimensional rotational angiography (3DRA). BCs were applied using in turn patient-specific phase-contrast-MR (pc-MR) measurements, a 1D-circulation model, and a physiologically coherent method based on local WSS at inlets. The Navier–Stokes equations were solved using the Ansys®-CFX™ software. Wall shear stress (WSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI), and other hemodynamic indices were computed. Differences in the values obtained with the three methods were analyzed using boxplot diagrams. Qualitative similarities were observed in the flow fields obtained with the three approaches. The quantitative comparison showed smaller discrepancies between pc-MR and 1D-model data, than those observed between pc-MR and WSS-scaled data. Discrepancies were reduced when indices were normalized to mean hemodynamic aneurysmal data. The strong similarities observed for the three BCs models suggest that vessel and aneurysm geometry have the strongest influence on aneurysmal hemodynamics. In absence of patient-specific BCs, a distributed circulation model may represent the best option when CFD is used for large cohort studies.

/pdf/computational-hemodynamics-in-cerebral-aneurysms-the-effects-2jmw48m4og.pdf

Matt Gwilliam

Papers

Computational Hemodynamics in Cerebral Aneurysms: The Effects of Modeled Versus Measured Boundary Conditions