A mesh-free approach to cornea-aqueous humor interaction during tonometry tests
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1.
Montanino A, Angelillo M, Pandolfi A. A mesh-free approach to cornea-aqueous humor interaction during tonometry tests. MAIO [Internet]. 2018 Jun. 18 [cited 2024 Mar. 28];2(2):69-74. Available from: https://www.maio-journal.com/index.php/MAIO/article/view/75

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Keywords

air-puff test; collocation methods; fluid-dynamics; fluid-solid interaction; mesh-free methods; particle methods

Abstract

The dynamic tonometer test (air-puff test) is an in-vivo investigative procedure routinely utilized in ophthalmology to estimate the intraocular pressure (IOP). A rapid, localized air jet applied on the anterior surface induces the inward motion of the cornea, which interacts with the aqueous humor — filling the narrow space between cornea and iris — and has a strong influence on corneal dynamics. Potentially, this quick and painless test could be combined with inverse analysis methods to characterize the patient-specific mechanical properties of the human cornea. As a step towards this aim, the present study describes a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach based on a simplified geometry to simulate the anterior chamber of the eye undergoing the air-puff test. We regard the cornea as a non-linear, elastic, and isotropic membrane described through an analytical model, discretizing the weakly compressible Newtonian fluid with a mesh-free particle approach. Numerical analyses reveal a marked influence of the fluid on corneal dynamics. Additionally, we investigate the possibility of using the test dynamics to estimate IOP.

https://doi.org/10.35119/maio.v2i2.75
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