A three dimensional numerical investigation on trajectories and capture of magnetic drug carrier nanoparticles in a Y-shaped vessel

In traditional chemotherapy, drug is distributed throughout the circulatory system and it affects not only the diseased tissues but also the healthy ones. Targeted magnetic drug delivery can be applied to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment drugs, as well as to increase the dose at the tumor site. The current research aims to find the optimal conditions for directing and transferring a suitable dose of drug-carrier nanoparticles to one of the branches of a Y-shaped blood vessel using a cylindrical permanent magnet. For this purpose, the effects of the magnetic field strength and the size of the magnetic drug-carrier nanoparticles have been investigated by three dimensional numerical simulations. Results indicate that increasing the magnetic field strength and the size of magnetic nanoparticles does not always increase the capture efficiency at the desired site. It is found that two optimum particle diameters of 400 nm and 600 nm lead to the maximum capture efficiency of 50% for the magnet locations of d = 3 and 3.5 cm, respectively. In other words, half of the injected particles are captured at the lower branch of the vessel. Moreover, the capture efficiency is shown to be improved up to 80% and 70% simply by increasing the magnet height and also by a 90 degrees rotation of the magnet, respectively. The current numerical analysis provides a better understanding of targeted magnetic drug delivery in more complex blood vessel systems.