Computational Modeling of Pancreatic Duct Flows for a Novel Non-invasive Diagnosis of Chronic Pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis with debilitating abdominal pain can be caused by pancreatic ductal hypertension. The origin and biomechanical mechanism of the pancreatic ductal hypertension, however, have not been well understood, and this limits the success rate of endotherapy and surgery to relieve hypertension. In order to investigate the correlation between pancreatic ductal pressure and abdominal pain, we performed patient-specific image-based computational fluid dynamic analysis of pancreatic duct flows. A 3D model of the pancreatic duct is reconstructed from a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) imaging data, and the computational fluid dynamics simulation is performed to determine the flow pattern and measure the pressure drop across the duct. The simulation results are compared with the in-vivo measurements done in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and the correlation between the ductal pressure drop and the patient pain score is analyzed.