TY - JOUR
T1 - Multi-physics modeling and finite element formulation of corneal UV cross-linking
AU - Wang, Shuolun
AU - Chester, Shawn A.
N1 - Funding Information:
SW thanks Maria A. Holland (University of Notre Dame) for many fruitful discussions and for the use of computational hardware and software. SAC acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation under Grant Number (CMMI-1751520).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - The UV cross-linking technique applied to the cornea is a popular and effective therapy for eye diseases such as keratoconus and ectatic disorders. The treatment strengthens the cornea by forming new cross-links via photochemical reactions and, in turn, prevents the disease from further developing. To better understand and capture the underlying mechanisms, we develop a multi-physics model that considers the migration of the riboflavin (i.e., the photo-initializer), UV light absorption, the photochemical reaction that forms the cross-links, and biomechanical changes caused by changes to the microstructure. Our model is calibrated to a set of nanoindentation tests on UV cross-linked corneas from the literature. Additionally, we implement our multi-physics model numerically into a commercial finite element software. We also compare our simulation against a set of inflation tests from the literature. The simulation capability allows us to make quantitative predictions of a therapy’s outcomes in full 3-D, based on the actual corneal geometry; it also helps medical practitioners with surgical planning.
AB - The UV cross-linking technique applied to the cornea is a popular and effective therapy for eye diseases such as keratoconus and ectatic disorders. The treatment strengthens the cornea by forming new cross-links via photochemical reactions and, in turn, prevents the disease from further developing. To better understand and capture the underlying mechanisms, we develop a multi-physics model that considers the migration of the riboflavin (i.e., the photo-initializer), UV light absorption, the photochemical reaction that forms the cross-links, and biomechanical changes caused by changes to the microstructure. Our model is calibrated to a set of nanoindentation tests on UV cross-linked corneas from the literature. Additionally, we implement our multi-physics model numerically into a commercial finite element software. We also compare our simulation against a set of inflation tests from the literature. The simulation capability allows us to make quantitative predictions of a therapy’s outcomes in full 3-D, based on the actual corneal geometry; it also helps medical practitioners with surgical planning.
KW - Biological material
KW - Finite elements
KW - Multi-field problems
KW - UV cross-linking
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U2 - 10.1007/s10237-021-01463-3
DO - 10.1007/s10237-021-01463-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34009489
AN - SCOPUS:85106309263
SN - 1617-7959
VL - 20
SP - 1561
EP - 1578
JO - Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology
JF - Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology
IS - 4
ER -