Supercomputer simulates blood flow in circulatory system

BBC : A supercomputer simulation presented at the American Physical Society meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, this week, models the human circulatory system in three dimensions. The simulated network, which tracks blood flow through all arteries larger than 1 mm across, is based on images captured by full-body CT and MRI scans of the circulatory system of a single person. Flow measurements in the simulation closely matched those of a 3D printed version of the circulatory system, both when the blood was free-flowing and when it was pulsed in a way that mimicked a heartbeat. Amanda Randles of Duke University and her team attempted the project primarily as a proof-of-concept because most previous simulations have focused on smaller sections of the circulatory system. The goal is to model how medical interventions, such as stents or other surgical modifications, might affect the system as a whole.