Abstract: A fluid mechanics-based analysis tool is implemented to compute pressure field data, fluid velocity data, and/or muscular work data in a lumen or other tubular organ or structure from planimetry and pressure data (e.g., measured using a balloon dilation or other planimetry catheter). In this way, flow data can be estimated, which are otherwise insensible from current planimetry catheter technologies due to economic and/or manufacturing limitations.

Abstract: Flow through tubular organs (e.g., the esophagus) is analyzed based on fluid mechanics analysis of medical images. Using computational fluid dynamics, a reduced-order model is constructed and implemented to predict flow rate and fluid pressure developed inside flexible tubular organs inside the body. As one non-limiting example, the constructed model can be applied to analyze esophageal transport using fluoroscopy image sequences to predict flow rate, pressure, esophagus wall stiffness, and active relaxation.