Parametric study of the design variables of an arborizing catheter on dispersal volume using a biphasic computational model

Abstract

Convection enhanced delivery (CED) is an investigational therapy developed to circumvent the limitations of drug delivery to the brain. Catheters are used in CED to locally infuse therapeutic agents into brain tissue. CED has demonstrated clinical utility for treatment of malignant brain tumors; however, CED has been limited by lack of CED-specific catheters. Therefore, we developed a multiport, arborizing catheter to maximize drug distribution for CED. Using a multiphasic finite element (FE) framework, we numerically optimized the design of the catheter. We predicted dispersal volume of a solute in a permeable, hyperelastic, solid matrix as a function of separation distance of individual ports of the catheter. To validate the model, we compared FE solutions of pressure-controlled infusions to experimental data of dye infusions in agarose tissue phantoms. In our validated model, we demonstrate that multiple ports increase dispersal volume with increasing port distance. However, infusion time also increases significantly with greater port distance. Utilizing higher flow rates mitigates the increase in procedure time. In conclusion, a compromise of port distance and flow rate could optimize both infusion duration with maximum dispersal volume.