Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Interdisciplinary Programs

First Committee Member

Huang Chen

Second Committee Member

Seungman Park

Third Committee Member

Hui Zhao

Fourth Committee Member

Melissa Morris

Fifth Committee Member

Cass Shum

Number of Pages

131

Abstract

Patients suffering from single ventricle congenital heart defects have a disrupted “typical” blood flow. Malformations in developing infants’ hearts allow for oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix freely in the heart resulting in fatal oxygen levels for the rest of the body. Currently, there is a single 3-stage treatment method to remedy this undesired mixing and extend the life expectancy of these patients. Surgical planning is a crucial, highly favored, step in the last stage of treatment, known as Fontan palliation; the aim is to advise physicians and clinicians on the most optimal surgical choice for total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC), via 3D patient specific models and blood flow simulations, for ideal patient recovery and increased quality of life. The current Fontan surgical planning methodology implements proprietary software that is restricted, usually, to research settings with clinician collaboration, and is not freely available to all Fontan patients. This project aims to improve accessibility by developing a new workflow for Fontan surgical planning implementing open-source software programs for 3D model development, virtual surgery, and post-surgical hemodynamic simulations. With the use of open-source software programs—3D Slicer, Blender, and OpenFOAM—the following patient specific information can be provided to clinicians: a digital three-dimensional replica of patient specific anatomy, virtual surgery implementing different TCPC types, hepatic flow distribution (HFD) simulations and power loss results of each respective TCPC physiology; the same information that is provided by the already published proprietary workflow. HFD and power loss outcomes from patient specific anatomies, across different virtual surgery TCPC types, validate the conceptual implementation of the new open-source Fontan surgical planning workflow. The workflow provides conclusive evidence comparable to the published, license restricted, Fontan surgical planning methodology.

Keywords

Cardiovascular modeling; Computational fluid dynamics; Open-source software; Personalized medicine; Single ventricle congenital heart defects; Virtual surgery

Disciplines

Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics | Biomechanical Engineering | Biomedical | Biomedical Devices and Instrumentation | Investigative Techniques

File Format

PDF

File Size

8300 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Available for download on Saturday, May 15, 2027


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