Study of blood flow impact on growth of thrombi using a multiscale model

Abstract

An extended multiscale model is introduced for studying the formation of platelet thrombi in blood vessels. The model describes the interplay between viscous, incompressible blood plasma, activated and non-activated platelets, as well as other blood cells, activating chemicals, fibrinogen and vessel walls. The macroscale dynamics of the blood flow is represented by the continuous submodel in the form of the Navier–Stokes equations. The microscale cell-cell interactions are described by the stochastic Cellular Potts Model (CPM). Simulations indicate that increase in flow rates leads to greater structural heterogeneity of the clot. As heterogeneous structural domains within the clot affect thrombus stability, understanding the factors influencing thrombus structure is of significant biomedical importance.