A Molecular Communication Perspective on Detecting Arterial Plaque Formation

The formation of plaques in human blood vessels known as atherosclerosis represents one of the major causes of death worldwide. Nanotechnology and molecular communication (MC) are envisioned to enable novel approaches towards the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we propose an investigation of the effects of plaque formation on the human blood vessel as a MC channel. By characterizing these changes, the early detection of plaques using MC networks in the human circulatory system could become possible. We model a simplified blood flow scenario in a human carotid artery using OpenFOAM. Nanoparticles are released in the blood stream in front of a region obstructed by a plaque, and their transport and distribution is evaluated as they pass through. The results are obtained for different plaque sizes and channel lengths. We observe a significant impact of a growing plaque on the channel characteristics in terms of a reduced propagation delay, and a decrease in the cumulative number of received particles, due to particles trapped by the plaque. Therefore, the receiver could detect abnormal conditions from a change in these channel conditions over time. Further investigation of these methods in conjunction with more realistic modeling of the channel and communication nodes will be necessary to confirm the results, and could contribute towards advanced future methods of diagnosis.     «

The formation of plaques in human blood vessels known as atherosclerosis represents one of the major causes of death worldwide. Nanotechnology and molecular communication (MC) are envisioned to enable novel approaches towards the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we propose an investigation of the effects of plaque formation on the human blood vessel as a MC channel. By characterizing these changes, the early detection of plaques using MC networks in the human circ...     »