상지동맥 혈관계의 모델링과 혈유동의 전산수치해석

Modeling of the Artery Tree in the Human Upper Extremity and Numerical Simulation of Blood Flow in the Artery Tree

하지혈관에 비해 상지혈관질환은 드물기 때문에 상지혈관계에 대한 실험적, 수치해석적 연구는 매우 드물다. 본 논문에서는 최초로 MRA 영상데이터로부터 한국 성인 왼팔의 혈관계, 상완동맥에서 1 mm 이상의 손가락동맥들에 이르는, 3차원 컴퓨터 모델을 제작하였다. 이 모델에 대해 수치해석을 수행하여 정상, 주기유동에 대한 속도장, 압력장을 계산하였고 주요 분지관에서의 유량분배와 벽전단응력 분포에 대해 분석하였다.

Since arterial disease in the upper extremity is less common than that in the lower extremity, experimental and numerical investigations related to upper extremity have been rarely performed. We created a three-dimensional model of the arteries, larger than approximately 1 mm, in a Korean adult's left hand (from brachial to digital arteries), from 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. For the first time, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic method was employed to investigate blood flow velocity, blood pressure variation, and wall shear stress (WSS) on this complicated artery system. Investigations were done on physiological blood flows near the branches of radial and deep palmar arch arteries, and ulnar and superficial palmar arch arteries. The flow is assumed to be laminar and the fluid is assumed to be Newtonian, with density and viscosity properties of plasma.