Artificial stenoses for computational hemodynamics

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a major cause of death in developed countries. Mass accumulation in artery walls causes obstruction to the blood flow, stenoses, giving origin to life threatening events. This work focuses on the use of a simple and effective methodology for creating three-dimensional irregular stenosis in artery models for numerical and in vitro hemodynamic studies. The method infers the artery location prone to stenoses appearance by identifying areas of low wall shear stress. Then, by using a diffusional process, irregular shaped stenoses are artificially created. This simple diffusional process mimics aspects of the growth of stenoses, such as the growth rate dependence of a time dependent flux. The method was demonstrated using different artery models, one of them being taken from a healthy patient CT scan. The generated stenoses are irregularly shaped and are highly dependent on the flow patterns developed in each artery type. The method disclosed allows a fast hemodynamic comparison between healthy and a stenotic case for a given artery geometry.