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This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free All Versions of this Article: 102/5/2012    most recent 01610.2005v2 01610.2005v1 Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by de Rochefort, L. Articles by Sbirlea-Apiou, G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by de Rochefort, L. Articles by Sbirlea-Apiou, G.

In vitro validation of computational fluid dynamic simulation in human proximal airways with hyperpolarized ³He magnetic resonance phase-contrast velocimetry

¹U2R2M, Unité de Recherche en Résonance Magnétique Médicale, CNRS, Univ Paris-Sud, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre; ²Centre de Recherche Claude Delorme (Air Liquide Research Center), Les Loges-en-Josas; ³Laboratoire Jacques Louis Lions, CNRS UMR 7598, Université Paris VI, Paris; ⁴Biomécanique Cellulaire et Respiratoire, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale UMR651, Université Paris XII, Créteil, France

Submitted 22 December 2005 ; accepted in final form 4 February 2007

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and magnetic resonance (MR) gas velocimetry were concurrently performed to study airflow in the same model of human proximal airways. Realistic in vivo-based human airway geometry was segmented from thoracic computed tomography. The three-dimensional numerical description of the airways was used for both generation of a physical airway model using rapid prototyping and mesh generation for CFD simulations. Steady laminar inspiratory experiments (Reynolds number Re = 770) were performed and velocity maps down to the fourth airway generation were extracted from a new velocity mapping technique based on MR velocimetry using hyperpolarized ³He gas. Full two-dimensional maps of the velocity vector were measured within a few seconds. Numerical simulations were carried out with the experimental flow conditions, and the two sets of data were compared between the two modalities. Flow distributions agreed within 3%. Main and secondary flow velocity intensities were similar, as were velocity convective patterns. This work demonstrates that experimental and numerical gas velocity data can be obtained and compared in the same complex airway geometry. Experiments validated the simulation platform that integrates patient-specific airway reconstruction process from in vivo thoracic scans and velocity field calculation with CFD, hence allowing the results of this numerical tool to be used with confidence in potential clinical applications for lung characterization. Finally, this combined numerical and experimental approach of flow assessment in realistic in vivo-based human airway geometries confirmed the strong dependence of airway flow patterns on local and global geometrical factors, which could contribute to gas mixing.

tracheobronchial tree; patient-based geometry; airway velocity profiles