Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) Modeling of Hemodynamics and Biomechanics in Patients with Multiple Cerebral Aneurysms

Growth and rupture of cerebral aneurysms - abnormal dilations of cerebral arteries - are attributed to a complex interplay between biomechanical, morphological and clinical risk factors. Previous patient-specific modeling studies have obtained correlations between hemodynamic factors and aneurysm progression across different patients. However, observed growth or stability could also be attributed to differences in clinical factors. Patients with multiple aneurysms, where growth is observed in one aneurysm while the other remains stable between baseline and follow-up imaging, act as self-controls, i.e., clinical factors are expected to affect each aneurysm in a similar manner. To this end, we perform a computational study investigating differences in hemodynamics and vascular mechanics between growing and stable aneurysms in the same subject. Patient-specific FSI simulations are performed for two patients with multiple aneurysms using the open-source solver SimVascular/svFSI. Relevant biomechanical parameters are compared between aneurysms in the same patient, indicating qualitative and quantitative differences in wall shear stress, oscillatory shear index, principal arterial stresses and their orientation, thus warranting further investigation on a larger patient cohort.