vIndianz.com (24 Nov, 2009) — A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University has developed a means to simulate blood flow on the computer to optimize surgical designs. It is the foundation of a new tool that might assist surgeons plan for a life-saving operation called the “Fontan” surgery, which is performed on babies born with severe congenital heart defects.
The researchers will present their work next week at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics will happen from November 22-24 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Babies who get this surgery have a developmental ailment where one of the chambers — or ventricles — of the heart fails to grow appropriately. This leaves their hearts not capable to properly circulate blood through their lungs and starves their bodies of oxygen. The deficiency of oxygen turns their skin blue, a situation occasionally referred to as “blue baby syndrome” for that cause.
The Fontan surgery is one of three surgeries performed directly after birth to replumb the circulation of children born missing their left ventricles. The operation basically connects the veins that would usually bring blood into the right side of the heart with the pulmonary arteries. The aim is to redirect the blood flow so that it becomes correctly oxygenated, allowing the patient to endure with only one functional pumping chamber. Prior to the advent of this type of surgery in the early 1970′s, these sorts of heart conditions were consistently fatal.
There are still risks, as well as exercise intolerance, blood clot formation, and ultimate heart failure requiring transplantation. Doctors alleviate this danger by cautiously setting up the surgery, starting with images of a baby’s heart and then sketching out their plans. UCSD’s Alison Marsden has been working with surgeons at Rady Children’s Hospital and Stanford University to build up a new computational tool to help in this process. In addition, Dr. Marsden and cardiologist Jeff Feinstein have developed a new Y-graft design for the Fontan surgery that is expected to be put into clinical use within a few months.
The tool initially uses imaging data to build a model of a person baby’s heart and then allows doctors to input their surgical designs. The computer can then methodically investigate diverse potential designs using powerful optimization algorithms, related to those used in the aerospace industry for aircraft design. It then applies fluid dynamics to simulate the blood flow after reconstruction. This means, says Marsden, surgeons can test their plans and evaluate blood flow patterns before operating.
Further Reading- Bioengineering Better Blood Vessels – U.S. News & World Report
- Heart trouble? Blood test to tell years in advance – Times of India
- Human Heart: One step closer to ‘Unbreakable’
- Heart trouble? Blood test to tell years in advance – Times of India
- Medtronic’s Back Surgery Woes Worse Than People Think – Forbes (blog)
- Weight-loss surgery may ‘remodel’ heart – USA Today
- Heart Bypass Surgery Rate Is Declining – WebMD
- ‘Mini-Strokes’ May Increase Risk of Heart Attack – WebMD
- Zsa Zsa Gabor Rushed to Hospital – TheWrap
- More Options Before Bypass Surgery, Study Finds – Wall Street Journal
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