Date of Award

8-31-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2017.

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

On Shun Pak

Abstract

The use of medical devices such as pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators have become commonplace to treat arrhythmias. Pacing leads with electrodes are used to send electrical pulses to the heart to treat either abnormally slow heart rates, or abnormal rhythms. Lead induced vessel occlusion, which is commonly seen after placement of pacemaker or implantable cardiac defibrillators leads, may result in lead malfunction and/or superior vena cava syndrome, and makes lead extraction difficult. The association between the anatomic locations at risk for thrombosis and regions of venous stasis have been reported previously. The computational studies reveal obvious flow stasis in the proximity of the leads, due to the no-slip boundary condition imposed on the lead surface. With recent technologies capable of creating slippery surfaces that can repel complex fluids including blood, we explore computationally how local structures may be altered in the regions around the leads when the no-slip boundary condition on the lead surface is relaxed using various slip lengths. The slippery surface is modeled by a Navier slip boundary condition. Analytical studies are performed on idealized geometries, which were then used to validate numerical simulations. A patient-specific model is constructed and studied numerically to investigate the influence of the slippery surface in a more physiologically realistic environment. The findings evaluate the possibility of reducing the risk of lead-induced thrombosis and occlusion by implementing a slippery surface conditions on the leads.

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