Strokes are a leading cause of disability and death globally, and effective treatments remain a critical medical challenge. They are classified into two main types: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic strokes occur due to the occlusion of a brain vessel by a thrombus, while hemorrhagic strokes result from significant bleeding in the brain. The current state-of-the-art treatments involve techniques such as thrombolysis, thrombectomy, thrombus aspiration for ischemic strokes, and coiling, stenting, or slowing down blood flow for hemorrhagic strokes. Nevertheless, each treatment’s applicability and benefit-to-risk ratio is still not satisfying. The development of new therapies, often a lengthy, complex, and highly regulated process, could be eased by modeling. This idea materializes into so-called in silico trials, where existing or new medical procedures or drugs are simulated and tested numerically, hopefully guiding the improvement of clinical expertise.

This thesis's major work consists of constructing a thrombolysis model within the context of the INSIST project, which aims at simulating and understanding every stage of ischemic stroke treatment and providing a framework for in silico trials.