CAREER: Imaging-Driven Fluid Dynamic Engineering of Modified Biomedical Systems

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

1151232 Frakes, David Cardiovascular fluid dynamics are deeply involved in the onset, progression, and treatment of many major diseases. Heart disease and stroke are two examples, both of which are among the three leading causes of death in the United States (US). Intracranial aneurysms (ICAs), which are ballooning blood vessels in the brain, are another example. They are present in an estimated 6% of the world?s population and account for approximately 20,000 deaths each year in the US alone. Preventing and/or treating cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) can be extremely difficult because of their complex, multifactorial etiologies and because of constraints inherent to the human body. However, the treatment problem becomes more tractable if medical devices can be used to control cardiovascular fluid dynamics. For example, the use of endovascular devices to treat ICAs (by occluding blood flow) has led to 50% fewer deaths over the last decade than the best option for treatment without the devices. Unfortunately, endovascular treatments for ICAs are still unsuccessful up to 50% of the time. Failure rates of this disturbing magnitude, which are consistent across many device-based CVD treatments, are a direct result of current gaps in fundamental knowledge and resources that limit the capabilities of fluid dynamic engineering. Specifically, the state-of-the-art in fluid dynamic engineering is lacking in fundamental knowledge of biomedical flows and in resources for medical device modeling. These costly shortcomings prohibit the design of treatments that achieve optimally healthy flows in modified biomedical systems (e.g. ICAs treated with devices). This CAREER program will develop novel and markedly improved methods for the design of effective device-based CVD treatments. Synergetic combinations of imaging-driven engineering tools including in vivo and in vitro imaging, physical and computational modeling, and fluid dynamic measurement and simulation will provide the methodological basis for development. Specifically, the program will build a foundation of new experimental knowledge and computational device models to inform and execute simulations of treated ICAs that are both dependable and realistic. The proposed research has direct potential to transform ICA treatment from loosely-founded, uncertain convention to well-informed, optimal engineering. More broadly, this program represents an instantiation of a novel research paradigm wherein multi-disciplinary techniques are repurposed to address the emergent class of unsolved fluid dynamic problems presented by modified biomedical systems. The program will underpin long-term advancement of fluid dynamic engineering in the context of human health, leading to advances in fundamental knowledge, more effective research techniques, enhanced clinical capabilities, and cross-cutting impacts that transcend the biomedical field. The specific program objectives (POs) of this CAREER proposal are: 1. Construct physical models of ICAs for use in fluid dynamic experiments 2. Treat physical models with medical devices and measure fluid dynamics experimentally 3. Develop improved computational models of medical devices for use in fluid dynamic simulations 4. Use experimental results and improved device models to inform and execute fluid dynamic simulations Intellectual merits of the research program are: 1) an unprecedented physical and computational library of ICAs including fluid dynamic data and treated cases, 2) advanced methods for measuring fluid dynamics experimentally in modified biomedical systems, 3) novel medical device models and methods for simulating fluid dynamics in modified biomedical systems, and 4) enhanced knowledge of fluid dynamic outcomes in treated ICAs. Broader impacts of the research program include: 1) enhanced infrastructure for research and education in the form of an ICA library, 2) broad dissemination of valuable physical and computational models and novel fluid dynamic data, 3) newly generated partnerships in both academia and industry, and 4) impacts on society including reduced healthcare costs and improved quality and duration of human life. The primary educational goals of this CAREER program are to increase exposure to crucial but highly unavailable engineering technologies and to broaden participation in engineering. Toward those ends, the Inside Out education program will engage broad student populations (high school, undergraduate, and graduate) through innovative curricula based on multi-sensory experience and the core technologies that drive the research program (medical imaging and rapid prototyping). By focusing on those technologies and their synergy in the research program, the education program directly integrates the proposed research with education. The research program is particularly significant to Hispanics and women because those groups are disproportionately affected by ICAs. That significance will be leveraged to recruit participants from groups that are underrepresented in science and engineering to both the research and education programs. The programs will benefit multiple groups (researchers, patients, students, underrepresented groups) and institutions (academia, industry, healthcare, education) both locally and globally.