Simulating Blood Flow in Healthy Swine Coronary Arteries After Bifurcation Stenting Procedures

Coronary artery disease is a major cause of mortality worldwide. Plaque buildup within an individual’s coronary arteries can lead reduced flows, local ischemia, angina, and even result in a myocardial infarction (heart attack). In the past two decades, coronary stents have become one of the ‘gold standards’ for treating such plaque buildups. Stents are designed to push the plaque up against the vessel walls, so to expand the vessels to its original dimensions; ie., keeping the lumen patent allowing for laminar blood flow. Using the Visible Heart^® Laboratories (1) capabilities, we have implanted coronary stents using various clinical protocols in porcine hearts. These hearts were subsequently scanned with a micro-CT, so they could be modeled and rendered in various 3D programs as well as fluid simulations. The ability to render fluid simulations through coronaries which had stenting procedures performed within, may allow clinicians to prescribe which bifurcation technique may be best suited for a given patient’s specific anatomy.