Hemodynamic investigation of a patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysm with iliac artery tortuosity

This paper describes a systematic investigation on the hemodynamic environment in a patient-specific AAA with tortuous common iliac artery(CIA) and external iliac artery (EIA). 3D reconstructions from CT scans and subsequent computational simulation are carried out. It is found out that the Newtonian and non-Newtonian models have very similar flow field and WSS distribution. More importantly, it is revealed that the torturous CIA maintained its helical flow. It is concluded that the assumption of Newtonian blood is adequate in capturing the intra-aneurysmal hemodynamics. Moreover, it is speculated that the physiological spiral flow protects the twisted CIA from the thrombosis formation.