VISUALIZATION EXPERIMENT OF FLOW STRUCTURES INSIDE TWO-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN BILIARY SYSTEM MODELS

Abstract

Although little is known about the transport mechanism of bile in the human biliary system, clinical studies suggest that it may be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of cholelithiasis. This paper reports an investigation of the steady flow in two-dimensional human biliary system models using flow visualization. The geometries of these two-dimensional models were described based on actual patients' operative cholangiograms. Two models were used: one represented biliary system of a patient suffering from gallstones, while the second represented the biliary system of a healthy person. The streamlines of the flow in the cystic duct of the patient suffering from gallstones were highly winding, compared with those of the healthy person. This is an indication of a higher resistance to the flow in the cystic duct of the gallstone patient, which is a contributing factor of the formation of gallstones. The work presented here is a part of an ongoing project aimed at understanding the functions of human cystic duct and the role of bile flow in the formation of gallstones.