Two-dimensional mathematical modelling of retinal oxygen transport and recommending treatment options.

Grace Esu-Ejemot Aquah, Foster Kwame Kholi, Samuel Kofi Tulashie

Biomedical physics & engineering express 2021 Sep 06

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This paper presents a novel two-dimensional (2D) computational modeling of the retinal oxygen delivery, transport, and consumption analysis. The 2D modeling allows the division of the retina into four layers to address different flow profiles. The retina domain was meshed using the ICEM CFD mesher, while the ANSYS Fluent was used to calculate the transport phenomena for the four different layers. Clinical cases such as diabetes and sickle cell anaemia denoting the effects of decreasing retinal blood flow and hemoglobin's oxygen affinity were investigated. The simulation results showed that for a healthy retina in light and dark conditions, the outer retina is in danger of hypoxia at thickness >197.56μm. However, the treatment of severe ischaemia using extreme hyperoxia seems beneficial for retinal thickness >197.56μm but harmful for thickness <122.75μm. The reduction of hemoglobin's oxygen affinity at low blood flow regimes could not improve the retina's oxygen levels. The study supports the oxygen toxicity hypothesis that hypoxia causes retina degeneration and estimates the retinal thickness and lighting conditions (dark or light) this may occur. © 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Citation

Grace Esu-Ejemot Aquah, Foster Kwame Kholi, Samuel Kofi Tulashie. Two-dimensional mathematical modelling of retinal oxygen transport and recommending treatment options. Biomedical physics & engineering express. 2021 Sep 06;7(6)