Paritosh Vasava, Master of Science in Technology, will defend his doctoral dissertation at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) on December 19th at 12.00 noon, room 1383 . His dissertation is entitled ”Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Modeling Blood Flow in Human Aorta”. Professor Franciscus N. van de Vosse, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, will act as the opponent. Adjunct Professor, Dr. Payman Jalali of Lappeenranta University of Technology will act as custos.
The researchers at the Department of Energy, Lappeenranta University of Technology, carried out computer simulations using state of the art software packages to predict the sites in the aorta vulnerable to arterial disease called atherosclerosis. Aorta which is the largest artery in human body is highly vulnerable to develop atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is one of the most common Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in Europe, United States of America and other developed countries today. According to a prediction by World Health Organization (WHO), by year 2030 approximately 24 million people will die from CVDs.
Atherosclerosis is a progressive arterial disease characterized by the building of fatty plaque within arterial walls. Earlier researches have suggested several hypotheses about mechanism of atherosclerosis and role of blood flow in the mechanism. However one cannot detect if an individual is vulnerable to atherosclerosis, since it is not possible to visualize blood flow in a living human being from outside. The medical devices used to visualize inside can be used for such study but this poses a threat of exposure to dangerous radiations.
The first part of the study was conducted with idealized pipe-like models of aorta. Although the models were simple the results were very promising and inspiring. However the use of the realistic aorta model remained a major challenge for the research team. An earlier study at LUT where CT images were used to reconstruct model of bones to study the strength of bones, gave the team the clue they desperately needed.
The team turned to South Karelia Central Hospital where Radiologist Dr. Matti Sauha-Aho provided them with several sets of CT images. A state of the art medical image processing code was used to reconstruct exact true-to-scale models of human aorta. The use of realistic aorta model allowed to look in to even the smallest of details of the flow. It was amazing to visualize the flow of blood flow without operating anyone and putting anyone to any risk of radiations. Furthermore, the computer codes could mimic the effects of several physiological conditions such as hypertension and hypotension.
The best thing about such a research is that the research is carried out without performing any actual experiments on humans. The results of computer simulations are reliable and accurate. This greatly improved analysis may also be used as a diagnosis tool, which could be decisive in patient specific analysis before treatment.
The research work was funded and supported by The Finnish Graduate School of Computational Fluid Dynamics (Laskennallisen Virtausmekaniikan Tutkijakoulu) and Academy of Finland.
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Name: Paritosh Vasava
Year and place of birth: 10th January 1982, Vadodara (city), India
Domicile: Lappeenranta
Education:
M.Sc (TechnoMathematics), Lappeenranta University of Technology, 2008
M.Sc (Applied Mathematics), The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, 2005
B.Sc (Mathematics) The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, 2003
Further information:
Paritosh Vasava, tel. +358 45 884 3399, +358 40 171 3840, paritosh.vasava(at)lut.fi
Lappeenranta University of Technology ( LUT) has already since 1969 brought together two complementary fields of science – technology and economics. LUT's top strategic sectors are energy efficiency and energy markets, strategic-level business and technology management, scientific computing and modelling of industrial processes, as well as expertise in Russian affairs in the sectors above. LUT has approximately 5 500 degree students and 1 000 employees.