CORRELATION BETWEEN GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF LEFT CORONARY ARTERY AND PLAQUE DEPOSITION IN LEFT ANTERIOR DESCENDING ARTERY

Abstract

The present work assess, through a statistical study, the correlation between geometric parameters of the left coronary artery of eight patients and the potential effect to atherosclerotic plaque deposition in both left anterior descending artery (LAD) and proximal artery LAD, allowing a better clinical practice. The tendency to develop atherosclerosis appearance is evaluated through the relative residence time (RRT) descriptor. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations were performed for a hemodynamic study in non-simplified in vivo geometries of eight healthy patients. RRT increases in LAD and proximal LAD (prone regions of atherosclerosis appearance) when the left main steam (LMS) cross-sectional area, the tortuosity between LMS-LCx and the angles LMS-LAD / LAD-LCx increase. RRT also increases when the proximal LAD length and the curvature of LMS decrease.