Effect of Position and Flow Waveform on the Fluid Mechanics of a Stenosed Human Right Coronary Artery

Abstract

Complete occlusion in any of the coronary vessels leads to a myocardial infarction. The role of fluid mechanical forces in atheroma development has been widely accepted because of preferential plaque growth at certain locations of the vessel geometry, such as a bifurcation or regions of high degrees of curvature. Areas of low and/or oscillatory shear stress have been correlated with atheroma development [1]. In order to determine the relationship between fluid mechanical stresses and development of lesions in the coronary vessels, it is important to analyze the fluid mechanics in actual three-dimensional geometries, incorporating the time-dependent translation and geometric alterations of these vessels [2,3].