Speaker: Suzanne M. Shontz

Affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Mississippi State University

Topic: Patient-Specific Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulations for Predicting Inferior Vena Cava Filter Performance

Abstract
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially-fatal disease in which blood clots (i.e., emboli) break free from the deep veins in the body and migrate to the lungs.  In order to prevent PE, anticoagulants are often prescribed; however, for some patients, anticoagulants cannot be used.   For such patients, a mechanical filter, namely an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter, is inserted into the IVC to trap the blood clots and prevent them from reaching the lungs.  There are numerous IVC filter designs, and it is not well understood which particular IVC filter geometry will result in the best treatment for a given patient.  Patient-specific computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations may be used to predict the performance of IVC filters and hence can aid physicians in IVC filter selection and placement.

In this talk, I will first describe our computational pipeline for prediction of IVC filter performance.  Our pipeline involves several steps including image processing, geometric model construction, in vivo stress state estimation, surface and volume mesh generation based on virtual IVC filter placement, and CFD simulation of IVC hemodynamics.  I will then present the results of our IVC hemodynamics simulations obtained for two patient IVCs.

This talk represents joint work with several researchers at The Pennsylvania State University, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, the Penn State Applied Research Lab, and the University of Utah.

Speaker Bio
Suzanne M. Shontz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Mississippi State University.  She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and is affiliated with the Center for Computational Sciences and the Computational Engineering Graduate Program.  As of August 2014, she will be an Associate Professor. 

Suzanne’s research efforts focus centrally on parallel scientific computing, more specifically, the design and analysis of unstructured mesh, numerical optimization, model order reduction, and numerical linear algebra algorithms and their applications to medicine, image processing, electronic circuits, acoustics, and materials.  In 2012, she was awarded an NSF Presidential Early CAREER Award (i.e., NSF PECASE Award) by President Obama for her research in computational- and data-enabled science and engineering.  Suzanne also received an NSF CAREER Award for her research on parallel dynamic meshing algorithms, theory, and software for simulation-assisted medical interventions in 2011.  She has chaired or co-chaired several top conferences in computational- and data-enabled science and engineering including the International Meshing Roundtable in 2010 and the NSF CyberBridges Workshop in 2012-2014.  Recently, Suzanne became an Associate Editor for the Book Series in Medicine by De Gruyter Open. 

Prior to joining Mississippi State in 2012, Suzanne earned her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Cornell University in 2005, was a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota, and was on the Computer Science and Engineering faculty at The Pennsylvania State University.

For more information

Dr. Chuanyi Ji, 404-894-2393, jic@ece.gatech.edu or Cordai Farrar cordai.farrar@ece.gatech.edu, 404-894-7890