Water diffusion in biomedical systems as related to magnetic resonance imaging

Water diffusion within the brain is studied numerically for various clinical conditions. The numerical procedure used in this work is based on the Galerkin weighted residual method of finite-element formulation. A wide range of pertinent parameters such as Lewis number, cell volume, and the buoyancy ratio are considered in the present study. Comparisons with previously published work show excellent agreement. The results show that the diffusion coefficient, cell volume, and the buoyancy ratio play significant roles on the characterization of the mass and heat transfer mechanisms within the cell. Concentration maps are developed for various clinical conditions. Pertinent results for the streamlines, isotherms and the mass and heat transfer rates in terms of the average Sherwood and Nusselt numbers are presented and discussed for different parametric values. Experimental tests are also conducted to produce an 8 Tesla image which is compared with our numerical simulation. The present study provides essential maps for brain disorders classified based on several pertinent clinical attributes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.