Simulation of Bronchial Airflow in COPD Patients

This research tackles the problem of assessing airflow inside both a healthy and a COPD bronchus ramification, by a Finite Element Method (FEM) computational mode.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is considered the third leading cause of death worldwide, smoking being the most common risk factor. In the case of emphysema, the appearance of bullae in the upper and middle lobes is frequent.

Bullae tend to increase their size progressively with time, severely clogging bronchi. In this research, bullae with different sizes are modelled as semi-spheres located at the internal wall of a 3D tomographic-based bronchi model.

Several numerical analyses were performed by applying fluid interaction focused on the behaviour of flow through a fifth generations bronchus bifurcation in different cases and degrees of the advance of COPD.

The outcome provides the gradients of flow speed and pressure within the bronchus ramification in the considered cases.

The methodology herein proposed is applicable to determine the airflow within any patient’s bronchus bifurcation were bullae appear, and thereby to assess and improve the design of custom treatments.