Locating a blockage in the cerebral vascular network

Abstract

Ischemic strokes make up 70-80% of strokes, and are characterised by blockages of arteries carrying blood to the brain. This problem involves the identification of blockages using a species distribution derived from an MRI scan of the brain. Blood flow in the brain may be described using a network of branching vessels which are the sources for porous media-type flow in the capillary bed. The topologically intricate nature of the branching blood vessels hinder most attempts at simplifying the problem, and the report concludes that a longer-term modelling process would be required in order to provide therapeutically useful conclusions. Some recommendations for the direction such future work could take are also included.