Flow patterns and wall shear stress distributions at atherosclerotic-prone sites in a human left coronary artery - An exploration using combined methods of CT and computational fluid dynamics

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Suo Jin, Emory University; Yan Yang, Emory University; John Oshinski, Emory University; Allen Tannenbaum, Emory University; James Gruden, Emory University; Don Giddens, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: IEEE
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2004, IEEE
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IEMBS.2004.1404062
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference
• ISSN: 1557-170X
• Volume: 26
• Start Page: 3789
• End Page: 3791
• Grant/Funding Information: The authors acknowledge support under Grant NIH NHLBI RO1 HL70531.
• Keywords: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging; Neurosciences; Medicine, Research & Experimental; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications; WSS; Research & Experimental Medicine; CFD; Neurosciences & Neurology; Computer Science; coronary artery; Engineering, Biomedical; Technology; Science & Technology; Engineering; Engineering, Multidisciplinary; CT
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Radiology; Engineering, Biomedical

Abstract

Computed tomography (CT) slices are combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the flow patterns in a human left coronary artery. The vascular model was reconstructed from CT slices scanned from a healthy volunteer in vivo. The spatial resolution of the slices is 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.625 mm so that geometrical details of the local wall surface of the vessel could be considered in the CFD modeling. This level of resolution is needed to investigate the wall shear stress (WSS) distribution, a factor generally recognized as a related to the atherogenesis. The WSS distributions on the main trunk and bifurcation of the left coronary artery of the model in one cardiac cycle are presented, and the results demonstrate that low and oscillating WSS is correlative with clinical observations of the atherosclerotic-prone sites in the left coronary artery.