A Biomechanical Model of Human Lung Deformation Utilizing Patient-Specific Elastic Property

Abstract

A biomechanical model is developed and validated for breathing-induced deformation of human lung. Specifically, a subject-specific poro-elastic lung model is used to predict the displacement over the breathing cycle and compared with displacement derived from high resolution image registration. The lung geometry is derived from four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) scan dataset of two human subjects. The heterogeneous Young’s modulus is estimated using inverse analysis method. The numerical simulation uses fluid-structure interaction technique to solve the coupled airflow equations and structural dynamics of the lung tissue. The modelled displacement is validated by comparison with the 4DCT registration results.