Problem
Retinal micro-aneurysms are central to diabetic retinopathy progression, but local blood-cell mechanics are difficult to resolve experimentally in vivo. I examined how geometry and red-cell stiffness influence flow stresses and platelet transport.
Approach
- Segment patient-derived retinal micro-aneurysm geometries from adaptive optics OCT data.
- Generate geometry variants with different neck widths for sensitivity analysis.
- Simulate pulsatile whole-blood flow with altered red-cell membrane stiffness.
- Quantify wall shear stress, shear gradients, and platelet/RBC transport patterns.
Key finding
Both neck geometry and red-cell stiffness significantly changed local stress distributions and particle penetration behavior. Stiffer RBCs increased average shear-related metrics and altered margination trends.
Why it matters
These mechanisms provide a more detailed flow-based explanation for disease progression signals that are otherwise hard to isolate clinically.
Outputs
- Publication details are listed in the References section below.
- Geometry and flow field visualizations are provided on this page.