Myocardial motion had only a minor effect on flow distribution within the arterial tree relative to the effect of the blood pressure pulse.
Does myocardial motion significantly affect pulsating blood flow distribution in the left anterior descending coronary artery compared to fixed geometry?
Computational simulations suggest that myocardial motion has a negligible effect on coronary blood flow distribution compared to the blood pressure pulse.
This study aimed at investigating the effect of myocardial motion on pulsating blood flow distribution of the left anterior descending coronary artery in the presence of atheromatous stenosis. The moving 3D arterial tree geometry has been obtained from conventional x-ray angiograms obtained during the heart cycle and includes a number of major branches. The geometry reconstruction model has been validated against projection data from a virtual phantom arterial tree as well as with CT-based reconstruction data for the same patient investigated. Reconstructions have been obtained for a number of temporal points while linear interpolation has been used for all intermediate instances. Blood has been considered as a non-Newtonian fluid. Results have been obtained using the same pulse for the inlet blood flow rate but with fixed arterial tree geometry as well as under steady-state conditions corresponding to the mean flow rate. Predictions indicate that myocardial motion has only a minor effect on flow distribution within the arterial tree relative to the effect of the blood pressure pulse.
Theodorakakos et al. (2008) studied Atheromatous stenosis in the left anterior descending coronary artery (n=1). Myocardial motion vs. Fixed arterial tree geometry and steady-state conditions was evaluated on Pulsating blood flow distribution. Myocardial motion had only a minor effect on flow distribution within the arterial tree relative to the effect of the blood pressure pulse.