Modeling of Respiratory Lung Motion as a Contact Problem of Elasticity Theory

R. Werner, J. Ehrhardt, and H. Handels
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Published in 2008

Breathing motion is a major problem in radiotherapy of lung tumors. The development of techniques to adequately account for respiratory motion requires detailed knowledge about breathing dynamics. Thus, computer aided modeling of respiratory motion gains in importance. In this paper we present an approach to modelling a respiratory lung. Main aspects of the process of lung ventilation are formulated as a contact problem of elasticity theory; the corresponding boundary value problem is solved by COMSOL Multiphysics. The influence of biomechanical parameters on the modeling process is analyzed.

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