The impact of choledochal cysts on bile fluid dynamics: A perspective using computational fluid dynamics and surface mapping technique.

This article focuses on investigating the bile fluid dynamics associated with choledochal cysts (CCs), a significant risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma, using patient-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reconstructions and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The study analyzed bile flow velocity, pressure, and wall shear stress (WSS) in healthy individuals, patients with suspected biliary dilatation, and those with CCs, highlighting that CCs cause reduced bile flow velocity and markedly altered WSS patterns due to anatomical dilatation and the shear-thinning, non-Newtonian nature of pathological bile. Pressure drops were more pronounced in CCs patients, potentially correlating with clinical symptoms such as pain, while WSS differences reached up to 100–250 times higher in the common bile duct compared to healthy cases. The findings emphasize the impact of both anatomical changes and bile rheological properties on biliary biomechanics and suggest that these biomechanical parameters could inform future microfluidic chip experiments to better understand disease mechanisms and aid in clinical evaluation.