Comparison of Normal and Pathological Hemodynamics in Coronary Artery Aneurysms Caused by Kawasaki Disease

Abstract

Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute febrile illness occurring primarily in children less than 5 years of age. It is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children, with over 4000 cases of KD diagnosed annually in the US alone. There is currently no clinical diagnostic test for KD, and diagnosis is made via a combination of symptoms including rash, swollen extremities, and fever. Approximately 20–25% of the untreated cases develop large aneurysms in the coronary arteries, which put the patient at severe risk for myocardial infarction. In this project we performed patient specific computational simulations of blood flow in aneurysmal left and right coronary arteries of a 10-year old KD patient and compared the hemodynamics to that of a normal coronary. Several relevant hemodynamic parameters such as WSS, WSS gradients and recirculation time were obtained, as a first step towards developing a risk assessment tool for thrombosis in KD patients.