Computational Modelling of the Stomach with Patient-Specific Geometries
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Digestion of food in the stomach is a vital process. It depends on gastric peristalsis, which mixes, grinds, and propels chyme. Gastric peristalsis refers to the coordinated contraction and relaxation of the muscles in the stomach wall controlled by an intricate electromechanical system. We present a computational multiphysics framework to model gastric peristalsis in patient-specific geometries derived from magnetic resonance images. The framework integrates a robust description of a gastric electrophysiological model coupled with an active-strain finite elasticity model to account for smooth muscle contractility and tissue mechanics [1, 2, 3]. Applying an algorithm that maps a two-dimensional parameter distribution onto a general tube-like surface allows the determination of personalized spatially varying model parameters. In this way, several essential phenomena of gastric electromechanics, including slow wave initiation and entrainment, and the consequential formation and propagation of stable physiological ring-shaped peristaltic contraction waves, are reproduced in simulations using patient-specific geometries of the human stomach. The presented framework enables large scale in-silico investigation of the stomach’s functionality and provides insights into physiological and pathological mechanisms of gastric electromechanics. REFERENCES [1] Brandstaeter, S., et al., Computational model of gastric motility with active-strain electromechanics. ZAMM - Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics / Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, 2018. [2] Djabella, K., M. Landau, and M. Sorine, A two-variable model of cardiac action potential with controlled pacemaker activity and ionic current interpretation, in 2007 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. 2007, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE). p. 5186- 5191. [3] Ruiz-Baier, R., et al., Mathematical modelling of active contraction in isolated cardiomyocytes. Mathematical Medicine and Biology, 2014. 31: p. 259-283.