Flow parameters in normal left coronary artery tree. Implication to atherogenesis

Abstract The dominant haemodynamic flow parameters of wall pressure (WP), wall shear stress (WSS), molecular viscosity and the spatial gradients: wall pressure gradient (WPG) and wall shear stress gradient (WSSG) along the normal human left coronary artery (LCA) tree are numerically analyzed in relation to atheronegenesis. The LCA tree includes the left main coronary artery, the left anterior descending branch, the left circumflex branch and their major branches. Spatial differentiation indicates that low values of WP (locally), WPG, WSS, WSSG and high molecular viscosity appear opposite flow dividers and this probably correlates to atherosclerosis localization.