Clinical Applications of CFD in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Abstract: Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a treatment for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In a patient with failing lungs, their blood is extracted, oxygenated in an artificial lung, and returned. The patient is supported like this until the lungs recover or a transplant can be made. Through a collaboration with Radiology and the ECMO Centre at Karolinska University Hospital, we have developed a CFD model of the body’s major venous branches and right atrium. Initially, this model provided insight into how right atrial function is affected by a range of different inflow conditions, a major impact of ECMO. Inserting drainage and return cannulas into the model then allowed us to assess the role that positioning, and flow rates have on performance, providing data that is difficult to obtain clinically. Finally, we have recently been using the model to assess the two commercially available dual lumen cannulas, which combine the return and drainage functions into a single device.

Bio: Louis Parker is a researcher with Lisa Prahl Wittberg’s Biomedical Flows Group at KTH. He completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2020 at the University of Western Australia and Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. His thesis was on patient-specific CFD analysis of aortic diseases like aneurysm and dissection. He came to Lisa’s group shortly after for his post-doc. He was recently awarded a Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship and will join the Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale (LIB) at Sorbonne Université in September.