A free boundary problem modeling thrombus growth: model development and numerical simulation using the level set method.

Recently, neglect of either shear stress, surface saturation, or thrombus growth in mathematical models of platelet deposition has been identified as leading cause of inability to match experimental evidence. While the consideration of shear stress is necessary to obtain at least some qualitative agreement, purely shear-dependent approaches yield notable quantitative discrepancies. In a previous paper, the author demonstrated that surface saturation significantly improves model predictions. However, discrepancies still persist when thrombus growth is neglected. Therefore, the present work develops a free boundary problem which takes this into account. Numerical simulations are performed using the level set method. The results agree well with measurements in stagnation point flow and tubular expansions, which demonstrates the coupling of flow, platelet adhesion, and aggregate growth in primary hemostasis.