May 17, 2006Coronary Artery Disease
Spatial and phasic oscillation of non-Newtonian wall shear stress in human left coronary artery bifurcation: an insight to atherogenesis
Why the study?
Does non-Newtonian blood flow modeling alter the spatial and temporal distribution of wall shear stress in a human left coronary artery bifurcation compared to Newtonian modeling?
Population
Computational model of a normal human left coronary artery bifurcation
Comparison
Pulsatile non-Newtonian flow modeling vs Newtonian flow modeling
Design
Preclinical
Authors
Discussion
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Member takes
Implication
Low wall shear stress patterns at coronary bifurcation lateral walls are robust to viscosity assumptions; leaves open whether this refines atherosclerosis risk prediction in patients.
Key Points
- The aim is to investigate wall shear stress oscillation in a human left coronary artery bifurcation using a computational model with non-Newtonian properties.
- Developed a 3D geometry of the left coronary artery and its branches for analysis.
- Applied pulsatile non-Newtonian flow to evaluate wall shear stress variations at six time-points in the cardiac cycle.
- Compared non-Newtonian wall shear stress against Newtonian models to assess differences.
- Wall shear stress showed significant temporal and spatial variation, with higher values in the flow divider region.
- Lower oscillatory values were noted during systole compared to diastole in the bifurcation region, especially the lateral walls.
- Despite consistently lower values, the Newtonian model displayed a similar pattern of wall shear stress distribution as the non-Newtonian model.
Structured PICO
Does non-Newtonian blood flow modeling alter the spatial and temporal distribution of wall shear stress in a human left coronary artery bifurcation compared to Newtonian modeling?
P
Population
Computational model of a normal human left coronary artery bifurcation (left main coronary artery, left anterior descending, and left circumflex artery)
I
Intervention
Pulsatile non-Newtonian flow modeling
C
Comparator
Newtonian flow modeling
O
Outcome
Wall shear stress variation (spatial and temporal) across six characteristic time-points of the cardiac cyclesurrogate
Computational modeling demonstrates that low and oscillating wall shear stress at the lateral walls of coronary bifurcations during systole predisposes to atherosclerosis, a finding independent of whether Newtonian or non-Newtonian blood properties are assumed.
Cite This Study
Soulis et al. (2006) studied this question.