Our PhD student, Benjamin Csippa works in a research group supported by the National Brain Research Program 2.0.
How your interest was arrested towards aneurysms?
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) caught my attention during my BSc studies. Those years, around 2013, I was living in a dormitory, and two friends from my floor were PhD students of the Department of Hydrodynamic Systems (HDS). I asked them whether I can also join examining this field, and write a scientific essay about it for the Students Council Conference. I started working on CFD projects with Péter Csizmadia (now an assistant professor), and he encouraged me, to also take part in education as a demonstrator.
After bachelors, from the beginning of my masters, I started working officially at the department, working on industrial projects and teaching courses. First, I began to work on an industrial project with Csaba Hős (associate professor of the Department of Hydrodynamic Systems, Vice-Dean for Science and International Affairs of BME Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Ed.). This project later became my master’s thesis. At the time, the head of the department, professor György Paál was already looking for new members for his research on hemodynamics. I joined, though, with a lower intensity at first.
After the industrial project finished, I could concentrate only on hemodynamics, in particular on aneurysms research, which had been the main focus for about a decade, even back then. Aneurysms are local sack-like bulges on the arterial blood vessels, which can lack symptoms quite occasionally, but in case of rupture, can cause brain haemorrhages. Based on the scientific literature, aneurysms are suspected of appearing in the 5-8 percent of the population, without knowing - on the video, a visualization can be seen of blood flow in a brain aneurysm with contrast agent injection. This topic totally impressed me and made me sure of choosing this field as my PhD topic. Personally, what boosted my enthusiasm, even more, is the connection of the subject to medicine is not only theoretical. Our team is led by Dr István Szikora, a head physician from the Hungarian National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, which is supported by the National Brain Research Program 2.0.
After bachelors, from the beginning of my masters, I started working officially at the department, working on industrial projects and teaching courses. First, I began to work on an industrial project with Csaba Hős (associate professor of the Department of Hydrodynamic Systems, Vice-Dean for Science and International Affairs of BME Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Ed.). This project later became my master’s thesis. At the time, the head of the department, professor György Paál was already looking for new members for his research on hemodynamics. I joined, though, with a lower intensity at first.
After the industrial project finished, I could concentrate only on hemodynamics, in particular on aneurysms research, which had been the main focus for about a decade, even back then. Aneurysms are local sack-like bulges on the arterial blood vessels, which can lack symptoms quite occasionally, but in case of rupture, can cause brain haemorrhages. Based on the scientific literature, aneurysms are suspected of appearing in the 5-8 percent of the population, without knowing - on the video, a visualization can be seen of blood flow in a brain aneurysm with contrast agent injection. This topic totally impressed me and made me sure of choosing this field as my PhD topic. Personally, what boosted my enthusiasm, even more, is the connection of the subject to medicine is not only theoretical. Our team is led by Dr István Szikora, a head physician from the Hungarian National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, which is supported by the National Brain Research Program 2.0.
What is the main reason for aneurysm initiation?
It is an excellent question; it is a central topic in my research too. However, a definitive answer is still missing in the literature. Even today, this field is highly researched in the medical field, and also in engineering hemodynamics. According to the present state of scientific knowledge, it is a complex cascade process, which can be connected to genetics as well. What we can assume based on our current understanding, and can be valid for all types of aneurysm, is that irregular time-dependent flow patterns can come into existence, which modifies the structure of the vessel wall, initiating and eventually growing an aneurysm. In the process, this local irregular flow mechanically disproportionately stresses the endothelium. The endothelium – in effect – translates this mechanical signal into a biochemical one, which promotes a set of biological processes, to form an aneurysm.
What kind of opportunities could your research offer?
The study of aneurysm formation mechanisms is a bit closer to what we can call basic research. Its clinical significance is, probably, that the doctors can have more in-depth knowledge with such information, about the natural course of the illness. Yet, our research findings can have practical impacts as well. Nowadays, computer science, hemodynamics, and the medical image processing can give such integrated tools in the hands of the doctors, which make them able to perform calculations about the behaviour of aneurysms, without any specific background in physics or computational science. Thus, in addition to the general, scientific approach, it makes patient-specific examination possible, which is the primary direction in medicine and medical technology called ’Personalized Digital Medicine’ (PDM). In the brain aneurysm field, there exist some software alike, that can supplement some information for diagnosis and more importantly help in pre-treatment planning of medical procedures.
Although promising technologies are already on the surface, comprehensive and scientifically strict validation studies must be done by the scientific and industrial community to ensure the safety and efficacy of such technologies before implementing them into everyday medicine.
What further plans do you have?
I am going to finish my PhD studies in January 2021, and I plan to submit my thesis in mid-2021. I got to know the academic life quite in details throughout the years since I had the opportunity to work at the university before starting my doctoral studies. I got the hang of it, and if given a chance, I would like to continue working here in the future.
László Benesóczky
Photo, video: Benjamin Csippa
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