Modelagem computacional de escoamento sanguíneo em fístulas arteriovenosas para o processo de hemodiálise

Abstract

Chronic renal failure is a disease that affects 10% of the world population, that requires hemodialysis procedure which is a blood filtration. This process is extremely stressful in many cases for the patient, because there is a continuous degradation of vessels and fistulae. In general, this degradation is due to the fluctuation of the stress generated by the blood flow on the vessel walls that may lead to diseases such as intimal hyperplasia, among others. In view of non invasive techniques, computational models capable to predict blood flow are becoming more required. In this work, through computational modeling by using finite volume method, arteriovenous fistulae used in hemodialysis are analyzed, considering several anastomotic angles and vessel flow conditions, for various blood rheological models. Mature and non mature vessels, as well as situations with and without needles, are also analyzed. By evaluating shear stress levels and oscillations together with secondary flow patterns, the relation between flow patterns and fistulae geometry is identified, aiming to minimize the pathologies when hemodialysis procedures are applied.