WSS descriptors in a patient RCA considering nonlinear viscoelasticity of blood

Abstract

Hemodynamic analyses, in patient-specific right coronary arteries (RCA) considering non-linear viscoelastic property of blood, have been underexplored in literature. Therefore, authors intend to evaluate and compare the relative residence time hemodynamic descriptor, and the tendency for atherosusceptible regions, in arteries with absence of atherosclerosis, when a purely shear-thinning model for blood (Carreau Model) or a non-linear viscoelastic model (multi-mode Giesekus model) are used for hemodynamic simulations. Ansys® software was chosen since it is a user-friendly software widely used by other authors who are interested in this research field. Carreau model is incorporated in Ansys® package software; however, the multi-mode Giesekus model was implemented and validated by authors in a previous work. Using the non-linear viscoelastic property of blood, the critical atherosusceptible regions in a patient-specific artery are larger than using the purely shear-thinning model. In the present patient case, some regions with high velocity gradients, mainly in bifurcations, have an increase of 87.5%. Therefore, the multi-mode Giesekus model, taking into account the complex property of blood, should be used in order to obtain an accurate hemodynamic simulation and accurate atherosusceptible regions.