ECoMMFiT - Biomedical Applications

Biological flows are of great interest since they are related with important health diseases. Knowing the behavior of the fluids in human body and the effect that the environment has in its comportment could help in clinical diagnostics and treatment.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) expertise of the ECoMMFiT can be applied to help in this task. For example, CFD predictions of the flow in cerebral aneurysms can help to analyze the mechanisms of growth and rupture and the degree of stress for a given flow conditions and to compare and to propose different stenting treatments. Tailored experimental and computational techniques have also been used to predict and analyze processes such as the platelet deposition on vascular walls, the growth of plaque deposits and the flow in aneurysms. The information that can be extracted is of relevance because it can be associated with clinical parameters, which in turn can be used to establish or improve patient-specific treatments.

Another area of biomedical interest is the development of software for analyzing specific images. ECoMMFit has developed the software ArtWAS, which allows a semiautomatic measurement of the intima-media thickness (IMT) from ultrasound images of the carotid artery. IMT has revealed as a surrogate marker of cardiovascular events in several clinical trials. Further, the measurement of IMT is advised in males over 45 years of age, in order to better stratify the cardiovascular risk. The results obtained in the validation process of the software shows that it is highly reliable for the measurement of carotid IMT, especially in the common carotid artery, but also in the bulb and internal. Further, it allows the performance of a significant higher number of measurements in each arterial segment, in a reduced amount of time.

Several research groups have collaborations with ECOMMFIT in this field, i.e. the Cardiovascular Research Center in Barcelona, the Servei de Cirurgia Vascular of the Hospital Joan XXIII (Tarragona), Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, and others.

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Team

  • Jordi Pallarès
  • Anton Vernet
  • Salvatore Cito
  • Josep Anton Ferré
  • Sylvana V. Varela

Related publications

1. Simulation of blood flow

  • Berg P., Pallarès J., Cito S., Usera G., Mendina M. et al., 2015, The Computational Fluid Dynamics Rupture Challenge 2013 - Phase II: Variability of Hemodynamic Simulations in Two Intracranial Aneurysms, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 137(12) 121008, Paper No: BIO-14-1543, DOI:10.1115/1.4031794 Abstract
  • Cito S.; Geers A. J.; Arroyo P.; Palero V. R.; Pallarès J.; Vernet A.; Blasco J.; San Román L.; Usera G.; Mendina M.; Fu W.; Qiao A.; Janiga G.; Miura Y.; Ohta M.; Frangi A. F., 2014, Accuracy and reproducibility of patient-specific hemodynamic models of stented intracranial aneurysms: Report on the Virtual Intracranial Stenting Challenge 2011 Annals of Biomedical Engineering Abstract
  • Cito, S., Pallares, J., Vernet, A. , 2014, Sensitivity analysis of the boundary conditions in simulations of the flow in an aortic coarctation at rest and stress conditions, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 8330 pp.74-82 Abstract
  • Steinman, D.A, et al. , M, 2013, Variability of computational fluid dynamics solutions for pressure and flow in a giant aneurysm: The ASME 2012 summer bioengineering conference CDF challenge ,Journal of Biomechanical Engineering-Transactions of the Asme, Vol. 135 pp.021015 Abstract
  • Bernardini, A., Larrabide, I., Morales, H.G., Pennati, G., Petrini, L., Cito, S., Frangi, A.F., 2011, Influence of different computational approaches for stent deployment on cerebral aneurysm haemodynamics, Interface focus: a theme supplement of Journal of the Royal Society interface 1(3):338-48 Article

2. Platelet deposition

  • Pallarès J., 2015, Local mass transfer rates of a first-order reaction on a wall: Application to the prediction of local platelet deposition in a perfusion chamber, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 90, 254-258. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.06.062
  • Pallarès J., Senan O., Guimerà R., Vernet A., Aguilar-Mogas A, Vilahur G., Badimón L., Sales-Pardo M., Cito S., 2015, A comprehensive study on different modelling approaches to predict platelet deposition rates in a perfusion chamber Scientific Reports, 5, 13606. DOI: 10.1038/srep13606
  • Cito, S., Mazzeo, M., Badimón, L., 2012, A Review of Macroscopic Thrombus Modeling Methods. Thrombosis Research 131(2)

3. Deposition of magnetic beads

  • Pallarès J., 2016, A criterion for the complete deposition of magnetic beads on the walls of microchannels, PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151053, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151053

4. Enzimatic reaction

  • Pallarès J, Ferré, J. A., 2015, A simple model to predict mass transfer rates and kinetics of biochemical and biomedical Michaelis-Menten surface reactions, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 80, 192-198. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2014.09.008
  • Cito, S.; Pallarès, J.; Fabregat, A.; Katakis, I. , 2012, Numerical simulation of wall mass transfer rates in capillary-driven flow in microchannels, International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 39 pp.1066-1072

5. Image processing software

  • Bonabi, A., Cito, S., Tammela, P., Jokinen, V., Sikanen, T., 2017, Fabrication of concave micromirrors for single cell imaging via controlled over-exposure of organically modified ceramics in single step lithography, Biomicrofluidics, 11, 034118, 2017
  • Saumoy, M.; Alonso-Villaverde, C.; Navarro, A.; Olmo, M.; Vila, R.; Ramón, J.M.; Di Yacovo, S.; Ferré, E.; Curto, J.; Vernet, A.; Vila, A.; Podzamczer, D. 2016, Randomized trial of a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention in HIV infected patients with moderate-high cardiovascular risk, Atherosclerosis, 246, 301-308, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2016.01.014

6. Viscosity measurement device

  • Cito, S.; Ahn, Y.; Pallarès, J.; Martínez, R.; Chen, Z.; Madou, M.; Katakis, I. , 2012, Visualization and measurement of capillary-driven blood flow using spectral domain optical coherence tomography, Microfluidics And Nanofluidics Vol. 13 pp.227-237

7. Drug encapsulation and bioflow visualization

  • Liu, D.; Zhang, H.; Cito, S.; Santos, H.A., 2017, Core/Shell Nanocomposites Produced by Superfast Sequential Microfluidic Nanoprecipitation, Nano Letters 17(2):606-614, 2017
  • Varela, S.; Balagué, I.; Sancho, I.; Erturk, N.; Ferrando, M.; Vernet, A. 2016 Functionalized alginate flow seeding microparticles for use in Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Journal of Microencapsulation (accepted)
  • Cito, S.; Ahn, Y.; Pallarès, J.; Martínez, R.; Chen, Z.; Madou, M.; Katakis, I. , 2012, Visualization and measurement of capillary-driven blood flow using spectral domain optical coherence tomography, Microfluidics And Nanofluidics Vol. 13 pp.227-237
  • Vasiliauskas, R.; Liu, D.: Cito, S.; Zhang, H.; Shahbazi, M.A.; Sikanen, T.; Mazutis, L.: Santos, H.A., 2015, A Simple Microfluidic Approach to Fabricate Monodisperse Hollow Microparticles For Multidrug Delivery, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 7(27), pp.14822-14832
  • Liu, D.: Cito, S.; Zhang, Y.; Wang, C.; Sikanen, T.; Mazutis, L.: Santos, H.A., 2015, A Versatile and Robust Microfluidic Platform Toward High Throughput Synthesis of Homogeneous Nanoparticles with Tunable Properties, Advanced Materials 27(14, pp. 2298-2304

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