Modeling Blood Flow in the Gastrointestinal System

Compared to cardiac ischemia, relatively little is known about ischemia that develops within the gastrointestinal system. The work presented here is a first step towards developing a detailed anatomically and biophysically based model of the mesenteric arterial system of the human intestine to be used to simulate normal and compromised blood flows. Data from the Visible Human project were used to develop an initial model of the mesenteric arterial tree. Using this tree, equations that govern blood flow within extensible vessels were set up and solved for pressure, radius and velocity. Results were analyzed for the four distinct phases of cardiac contraction - diastole, isovolumic contraction, ejection and isovolumic relaxation and the profiles showing the temporally varying pressure and velocity within the network for a periodic input varying between 10.29 kPa (77 mmHg) and 14.63 kPa (110 mmHg) at the abdominal aorta are presented in this paper.