FEM model for real-time guide wire simulation in vasculature

A model suitable for describing the mechanical response of thin elastic objects is proposed to simulate the deformation of guide wires in minimally invasive interventions. The main objective of this simulation is to provide doctors an opportunity to rehearse the surgery and select an optimal operation plan before the real surgery. In this model the guide wire is discretized with the multi-body representation and its elastic energy derivate from elastic theory is a polynomial function of the nodal displacements. The vascular structure is represented by a tetrahedron mesh extended from the triangular mesh of the artery, which can be extracted from the patient's CT image data. The model applies the energy decline process of the conjugate gradient method to the deformation simulation of the guide wire. Experimental results show that the polynomial relationship between elastic energy and nodal displacements tremendously simplifies the evaluation of the conjugate gradient method and significantly improves the model's efficiency. Compared with models depending on an explicit scheme for evaluation, the new model is not only non-conditionally stable but also more efficient. The model can be applied to the real-time simulation of guide wire in a vascular structure.