Measurement and modeling of coronary blood flow

Ischemic heart disease that comprises both coronary artery disease and microvascular disease is the single greatest cause of death globally. In this context, enhancing our understanding of the interaction of coronary structure and function is not only fundamental for advancing basic physiology but also crucial for identifying new targets for treating these diseases. A central challenge for understanding coronary blood flow is that coronary structure and function exhibit different behaviors across a range of spatial and temporal scales. While experimental studies have sought to understand this feature by isolating specific mechanisms, in tandem, computational modeling is increasingly also providing a unique framework to integrate mechanistic behaviors across different scales. In addition, clinical methods for assessing coronary disease severity are continuously being informed and updated by findings in basic physiology. Coupling these technologies, computational modeling of the coronary circulation is emerging as a bridge between the experimental and clinical domains, providing a framework to integrate imaging and measurements from multiple sources with mathematical descriptions of governing physical laws. State‐of‐the‐art computational modeling is being used to combine mechanistic models with data to provide new insight into coronary physiology, optimization of medical technologies, and new applications to guide clinical practice. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2015, 7:335–356. doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1309 This article is categorized under: Analytical and Computational Methods > Computational Methods Physiology > Mammalian Physiology in Health and Disease Models of Systems Properties and Processes > Organ, Tissue, and Physiological Models