• PIV
• 3D printing
• LAA

The main cause of myocardial infarction is the formation of blood clots inside the Left Atrium Appendage (LAA), which enter the bloodstream due to Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and are the main cause of stroke. Biomedical engineering can help correlate the associated risk by studying the fluid dynamics of the LAA. In this thesis work, the Particle Image Vecimetry (PIV) technique was used to study fluid dynamics in a deformable model of a patient-specific left atrium. Starting from CT images, a segmentation was performed and then the final model was created with a flange to connect it to the fluid dynamic sey-up. Because of its special optical properties, Sylgard 184 was cast to make the model. The casting required an outer mold and an inner mold to form outer and inner surface. Both molds were also made of silicone to make them reusable and to facilitate removal of the model. The finished phantom was then used for acquisition with the PIV technique.