Resumen
Liver cancer, a life-threatening disease, can be cured if found early. A common treatment for liver tumors that cannot be removed by surgery is hepatic artery embolization. It involves injecting small beads to block the blood flow towards cancer cells. In this paper, we propose the world?s first nitinol spherical occlusion device, which can be deployed in the upstream of an artery to reduce the blood flow to the downstream cancer cells. Finite element models were developed to predict the device?s mechanical integrity during manufacturing and deployment. Computational fluid dynamics were applied to simulate the device?s clinical occlusion performance. Simulation results suggested that devices with a metal density of 14?27% would reduce the average blood flow rate by 30?50%. A conceptual prototype was first cut by pulsed-fiber optic laser, and a series of expansions and heat treatments were used to shape the device to its final geometry. Flow experiments were conducted for proof of concept, and results showed that the spherical occlusion device successfully reduced the flow as designed. The occlusion device with the metal density of 27% was able to reduce 44% of flow, which agreed well with the simulation results.