Simulation of deposition and clearance of inhaled particles in central human airways

Abstract

In this study local distributions of deposited inhaled particles such as radon progenies in realistic human airway bifurcation models of bronchial generations one to six are computed for different geometries, inlet flow profiles, flow rates and particle sizes with computational fluid particle dynamics methods. The movement of the mucus layer in the large central human airways is also simulated by computational fluid dynamic techniques. There is experimental evidence that bronchogenic carcinomas mainly originate at the central zone of the large airway bifurcations, where primary hot-spots of deposition have been found. However, current lung deposition models do not take into consideration the inhomogeneity of deposition within the airways. The inhomogeneous movement of the mucus layer may strongly influence the effect of primary deposition. On the basis of our results, both the deposition and the clearance patterns are highly non-uniform, especially in the vicinity of the carinal ridge of the bifurcations.