Myocardial infarction risk assessment by numerical approximation of haemodynamic–based indices in coronary arteries
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Coronary arteries are remarkably subject to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques (stenoses), therefore increasing the risk of myocardial infarction (MI). Several indices have been proposed in order to quantify the severity of stenotic formations, such as the fractional flow reserve (FFR) and descriptors based on the wall shear stress (WSS). This work is the result of a collaboration with the CHUV (Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois) which provided the data on the coronary arteries. The purpose of this study is to develop a computational framework for hexahedral grid generation and numerical simulation of haemodynamics in patient-specific coronary artery geometries. On the fluid dynamics side, we take into account the first bifurcation of the coronary tree (LAD-CX) and the presence of stenosis. Regarding the meshing, we present a fast and robust hexahedral mesh generator which is capable of adapting to the bifurcations and to a possible integration of the cardiac motion. We show numerical results on a select number of geometries. The FFR results are furthermore compared against clinical measures.
