Modeling of blood flow in arterial trees

Advances in computational methods and medical imaging techniques have enabled accurate simulations of subject-specific blood flows at the level of individual blood cell and in complex arterial networks. While in the past, we were limited to simulations with one arterial bifurcation, the current state-of-the-art is simulations of arterial networks consisting of hundreds of arteries. In this paper, we review the advances in methods for vascular flow simulations in large arterial trees. We discuss alternative approaches and validity of various assumptions often made to simplify the modeling. To highlight the similarities and discrepancies of data computed with different models, computationally intensive three-dimensional (3D) and inexpensive one-dimensional (1D) flow simulations in very large arterial networks are employed. Finally, we discuss the possibilities, challenges, and limitations of the computational methods for predicting outcomes of therapeutic interventions for individual patients. (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2010 2 612-623