Quantification of the effect of Percutaneous Coronary Angioplasty on a stenosed Right Coronary Artery

Atherosclerosis is the most prevalent cardiovascular disease which affects millions of people globally each year. The development of atheroma is directly connected to the interaction of blood flow with the arterial wall. Therefore, the modeling of this interaction is of critical importance for the study of arterial blood flow mechanics and the progression of atherosclerosis. In this study, we use a patient-specific 3-dimensional model of a stenosed Right Coronary Artery (RCA). A revascularization procedure (Percutaneous Coronary Angiography-PCA) is virtually performed to the stenosed model. The distribution of the Wall Shear Stress (WSS) as well as the wall deformation are compared on the two models after solving the coupled mechanical system using the Finite Element Method (FEM). Results concerning areas of low WSS (0-2 Pa) as well as minimum and maximum wall deformation are presented, quantifying the effect of the revascularization process of the artery.