Effects of different types of input waveforms in patient-specific right coronary atherosclerosis hemodynamics analysis

Accurate fluid mechanics models are important tools for predicting the flow field in the coronary artery for understanding the relationship between hemodynamics and the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this paper is to asses non-invasively hemodynamic parameters such as disturbed flows, pressure distribution and wall shear stress with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in human right coronary artery (RCA) using patient-specific data from in vivo computed tomographic (CT) angiography, using two different pulsatile input waveforms. In order to produce a realistic three-dimensional model of the RCA anatomy, CT-datasets were acquired by a four-row-detector CT-scanner. Digital files in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) file format, containing cross-sectional information were then imported to CFD software package for reconstruction. The numerical analysis examines closely the effect of a different input waveforms model on the hemodynamic characteristics such as secondary flow, flow separation and wall shear stress in the multiple stenosed RCA.