Lung Aerosol Dynamics

In collaboration with off-campus scientists and research MDs, we pioneered realistic computer simulations of airflow and toxic/therapeutic particle deposition in human nasal and lung airway models. As an outcome of the scientific analyses, a smart inhaler system has been developed.  Major results include:

  • Development a physiologically realistic whole-lung airway model (WLAM) which can accurately predict the total, segmental and regional lung particle depositions.
  • Development of 3-D quasi-steady and transient inhalation correlations matching deposition results obtained with lab models as well as subject-specific airways
  • Depiction of unique deposition patterns of vapor/nanomaterial vs. micron particles
  • Identification of “hot-spots” of excessive toxic particle deposition, valuable to toxicologists and regulators
  • A new methodology for targeted drug-aerosol delivery, independent of a patient’s lung morphology
  • A first-time simulation of air-particle inhalation for a realistic nasal-oral-tracheobronchial airway model
  • Design and development of a smart inhaler system (US patent # 7900625 on 08 March 2011)

Airway morphology and models

 

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Airway morphology and models

The sheer complexity of the human lung, featuring millions airways, prohibits a full-scale study. So, as an alternative, we developed  physiologically realistic and computationally efficient computer simulation Whole Lung-Airway Models (WLAMs).

2-Path WLAM
5-path WLAM

The WLAM predicted results are validated with the experimental results.

 

Examples of different human upper-airway models

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Particle deposition fractions in human nasal, oral and upper tracheobronchial airways

 

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Particle deposition fractions in the entire human tracheobronchial region

 

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Drug-Aerosol Targeting Examples

 

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Non-directional drug aerosol deposition in the human respiratory system with traditional inhalation devices (e.g., pMDI) (left panel); controlled air-particle stream and distributions in human upper airway models (right panel).

 

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Comparisons between simulated particle distributions and experimental visualizations in the human oral airway models with two different particle release positions at the mouth inlet