Computational Design of Thrombectomy Device for Blood Clot Removal: A Study on Suction Pressure and Clot Hardness

According to World Health Organization (WHO), in 2008, an estimated 17.3million
people died from Cardiovascular Disease, representing 30% of all global death. About
6.2 million of it was due to stroke. In Malaysia, stroke becomes the third killer after
heart disease and cancer with an average 110 people dying of it every day. Stroke occurs
because of the interruption of blood supply to the brain due to the blood clot formation
in blood vessel and to be specific, the artery in the crane. There are several techniques
that have been developed to overcome the problem and one of the techniques developed
was "GP" Mechanical Thrombectomy Device(GPMTD).The concept used by the device
is to remove the blood clot from the artery. This device was mechanically proven
suitable for soft clot while in acute cerebrovascular stroke, the whole blood clot is firm
and hard. This shows that the clot is formed at di:ffi:rent hardness. Besides, from the
literature review, the clot can be removed by applying suction pressure within the range
of 40kPa to 60kPa. Therefore; Navier Stokes equation will be used in ANSYS FLUENT
simulation software which is Fluent 6.3.26 to simulate the blood clot extraction from the
blood artery with different hardness of blood clot and under different suction pressure.
By performing the simulation, the e:ffi:ct of suction pressure and clot hardness on blood
clot removal process can be studied. By this understanding, it will help to increase the
effectiveness of the blood clot removal system.