In recent years, computational fluid dynamics techniques have been employed to advance the understanding of cardiovascular flows and have been largely focused on wall shear stress (WSS) and the effect of disturbed flows on atherosclerosis, and in turn, coronary artery disease (CAD). To gain further insight into the hemodynamics associated with CAD, numerical simulations were conducted on a diseased left circumflex artery (LCX). The vessel geometry was derived from computed tomography angiography (CTA) data of a diseased LCX vessel. The diseased vessel was then artificially restored to represent its initially healthy geometry, and simulations were re-run for comparison. It was determined that alongside the expected low WSS, a region of high vorticity was present at the location where CAD developed, resulting in disturbed blood flow. The vorticity may also be associated with the curvature of the vessel. The relevance of the observed characteristics was further supported by perturbing the geometry of the restored LCX via dilation to account for inaccuracies in the restoration process. This research suggests that vorticity is an important factor in assessing the risk for CAD, potentially improving the accuracy of non-invasive, computational diagnosis. In turn, as computational analysis of the coronary arteries improves, it is likely that unnecessary invasive diagnosis methods, such as an angiogram, can be avoided.

中文翻译：

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人工血管修复术对左旋支动脉冠状动脉疾病的研究

近年来，计算机流体动力学技术已被用来增进对心血管血流的理解，并且主要集中在壁切应力（WSS）和血流紊乱对动脉粥样硬化的影响，进而对冠状动脉疾病（CAD）的影响。为了进一步了解与CAD相关的血液动力学，对患病的左旋支动脉（LCX）进行了数值模拟。血管几何结构是从患病的LCX血管的计算机断层血管造影（CTA）数据中得出的。然后将患病的血管进行人工修复，以代表其最初的健康几何形状，并重新运行模拟以进行比较。已确定，除了预期的低WSS之外，在CAD形成的位置还存在高涡度区域，从而导致血液流动受阻。涡度还可以与血管的曲率相关。观察到的特性的相关性通过通过扩张扰动恢复的LCX的几何形状来进一步说明，以解决恢复过程中的不准确性。这项研究表明，涡度是评估CAD风险的重要因素，有可能提高无创计算诊断的准确性。继而，随着对冠状动脉的计算分析的改善，很可能可以避免不必要的侵入性诊断方法，例如血管造影。这项研究表明，涡度是评估CAD风险的重要因素，有可能提高无创计算诊断的准确性。继而，随着对冠状动脉的计算分析的改善，很可能可以避免不必要的侵入性诊断方法，例如血管造影。这项研究表明，涡度是评估CAD风险的重要因素，可能会提高无创计算诊断的准确性。继而，随着对冠状动脉的计算分析的改善，很可能可以避免不必要的侵入性诊断方法，例如血管造影。