Patient-specific CFD simulation of aerodynamics for nasal pathology: a combined computational and experimental study

The aim of this study was to develop and verify a personalised approach for simulating the aerodynamic flow patterns using patient-specific data of a severe form of nasal obstruction during inspiration. The reconstruction of the 3D geometry of the nasal cavity based on the computer images of a patient diagnosed with the unilateral nasal valve collapse and S-shaped septum deviation was used to perform the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of airflow. A comparative study of the airflow with standard data (SD) and personal input data (PD) of mass flow rate was carried out. In both cases, the air streamlines went straight along the lower and middle nasal passages on the non-deviated septum side. The peak velocity increased in two cavities, mostly on the septum deviation side, while the peak pressure inversely dropped. With personal data, the peak velocity and pressure values varied greatly in different parts of the nasal cavity, depending on the particular local anatomy. In a patient with unilateral nasal valve collapse and S-shaped septum deviation, the use of personal data does not have an impact on the streamline’s direction, longitudinal velocity, and pressure distributions but it significantly changed the local velocity and pressure in the nasal cavity.