Blood clots and stroke from atrial fibrilation in the left atrial appendage based on fluid mechanics

Atrial fibrillation greatly increases the risk of ischemic stroke. This is primarily due to clots forming in the left atrial appendage, embolizing, and ending up in the cerebral circulation. Therefore, these patients either receive harsh anticoagulants to prevent this or a Watchman device or similar. Despite potential solutions, the fields of haematology and cardiology advance separately and the clot formation process and characteristics are relatively poorly understood. In this project, you would be investigating the flow in the left atrial appendage, blood behaviour in this location with and without atrial fibrillation, and would then probe characteristics of these clots to better improve how these are treated.