1. ANSYS FLUENT for Brain Research: Cranio-spinal system
Cranium
Spinal canal
Medical Image
Mathematical Model

2. ANSYS FLUENT for Brain Research: Hydrocephalus
Normal
Hydrocephalic

3. ANSYS FLUENT for Brain Research
Application
Intracranial Dynamics

4. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Intracranial dynamics
Medical Imaging
1st Principles: Math/Physics
Computer Science

5. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Intracranial dynamics
Third ventricle
3rd ventricle
Aqueduct
4th ventricle
Pontine cistern

6. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Intracranial dynamics
Normal
Velocity [m/s]
Pressure [Pa]
Linninger, A.A., M. Xenos, D.C. Zhu, M.R. Somayaji, S. Kondapalli, and R.D. Penn. Cerebrospinal fluid flow in the normal and hydrocephalic human brain. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 54: , 2007.

7. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Intracranial dynamics
(mm/s)
3rd ventricle
Aqueduct
4th ventricle
Pontine cistern

8. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Intracranial dynamics
Definition of Symbols/Abbreviations
LV: lateral ventricle
SAS: subarachnoid space
V4: fourth ventricle
CCJ: cranio-cervical junction

9. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Intracranial dynamics—Conclusions
Pressure gradients in the brain remain small (<1mmHg)
Blood flow and vasculature expansion
driving force for pulsatile CSF motion

10. ANSYS FLUENT for Brain Research
Application
Drug Delivery

11. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Drug delivery to the human brain
Drug transport—porous brain parenchyma
Effective Diffusion Tensor of Growth Factor (GDNF) near the Putamen
Diffusion flux in anisotropic tissue:
Apparent water diffusion tensor in human brain from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
Axial view
Motivation:
Validate invasive techniques for clinical practice
Geometrical Challenge:
Reconstruction of brain anatomy from images
Physiological Challenge:
Quantify brain anisotropy and heterogeneity from DTI
Drug Transport Challenge:
Predict spatio-temporal drug distribution in 3d
Treatment Challenge:
Propose optimal catheter positioning and CED parameters

12. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Drug delivery to the human brain

13. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Drug delivery to the human brain
Molecular weight = 27,000 kg/kmol; Flow rate = 4µl/min ; X0 = 3.7·10-3 mol/l, no reaction
high
low
Axial slices

14. ANSYS FLUENT for Brain Research
Drug Delivery
Additional Applications

15. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Drug distribution & catheter placement
GDNF (neurotrophic factor) concentration field over time
mol/l
Thalamus injection
Injection into gray matter
Week #1
Week #2
Week #4
Internal capsule injection
Injection into white matter
mol/l
Week #1
Week #2
Week #4
A. Linninger, M.R. Somayaji, L. Zhang, M.S. Hariharan and R. Penn. Rigorous Mathematical Modeling Techniques for Optimal Delivery of Macromolecules to the Brain. IEEE Transaction on Biomedical Engineering, 55 (9): , 2008.

16. ANSYS FLUENT Application: Drug distribution & catheter design
Flow direction at week 3
Concentration field over time
low
high
Week #1
Week #2
Week #3

17. ANSYS FLUENT Application: References
Linninger, A.A., M.R. Somayaji, T. Erickson, X. Guo, and R.D. Penn. Computational methods for predicting drug transport in anisotropic and heterogeneous brain tissue. Journal of Biomechanics. 41: , 2008.
Linninger, A.A., M.R. Somayaji, M. Mekarski, and L. Zhang. Prediction of convection-enhanced drug delivery to the human brain. J Theor Biol. 250: , 2008.
Linninger, A.A., M.R. Somayaji, L. Zhang, M.S. Hariharan, and R.D. Penn. Rigorous Mathematical Modeling Techniques for Optimal Delivery of Macromolecules to the Brain. Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on. 55: , 2008.
Linninger, A.A., B. Sweetman, and R. Penn. Normal and hydrocephalic brain dynamics: the role of reduced cerebrospinal fluid reabsorption in ventricular enlargement. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 37: , 2009.
Linninger, A.A., M. Xenos, B. Sweetman, S. Ponkshe, X. Guo, and R. Penn. A mathematical model of blood, cerebrospinal fluid and brain dynamics. J. Math. Biol. 59:729-59, 2009.
Linninger, A.A., M. Xenos, D.C. Zhu, M.R. Somayaji, S. Kondapalli, and R.D. Penn. Cerebrospinal fluid flow in the normal and hydrocephalic human brain. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 54: , 2007.
Morrison, P.F., R.R. Lonser and E.H. Oldfield, “Convective delivery of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor in the human putamen”, J Neurosurg, vol.107, pp , Jul, 2007.
Salvatore, M.F., Y. Ai, B. Fischer, A.M. Zhang, R.C. Grondin, Z. Zhang, G.A. Gerhardt, D.M. Gash, “Point source concentration of GDNF may explain failure of phase II clinical trial”, Experimental Neurology, vol. 202, pp , 2006.