Quantifying blood clot biomechanics with integrated CFD and intravital imaging

The dynamic flow environment around an in vivo hemostatic blood clot is highly complex, and often not fully quantifiably understood. Intravital microscopy is a common technique to study in vivo clot mechanics in mice. These in vivo data illustrate how a clot forms, grows, and embolizes but does not provide information on local flow and flow-induced forces. We have previously developed an in silico method named IVISim that integrates with in vivo intravital images to predict flow environment in a clot neighborhood. Here, we employ IVISim to compare the dynamic clot-hemodynamics interactions between a wild type mouse model and a diYF knockout model that has impaired clot contraction. Each cohort has six mice for our study. Using IVISim we will compare these phenotypes by computing flow patterns, quantifying unsteady force-deformation behavior of the clot, as well as characterizing features such as embolization. Such detailed comparisons between wild type and knockout mice from a biomechanical clot response perspective have been lacking.