Head Rotation Effects on the Flow and Hemodynamics of the Human Carotid Bifurcation

The use of realistic anatomic human carotid artery bifurcation (CB) models with a realistic blood waveform leads to physiologically relevant numerical simulations. To study the effects of head posture on the geometry and hemodynamics of the CB, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used on six healthy volunteers in two different head postures: 1) the supine neutral (N) and 2) the prone with rightward head rotation (P) up to 80°. Geometric differences with posture change in both the left (LCA) and right (RCA) carotid arteries were reported before [1]. The blood velocity waveform for each individual was obtained using phase-contrast MRI (PCMRI) at five diameters upstream of CB. Results have shown that peak systolic blood flow rate is reduced, in the prone position for both RCA and LCA in all six volunteers. To investigate the effects of the reduced peak systolic flow on the hemodynamics of the CB, numerical simulations were performed for a volunteer that exhibited the most geometric changes for the prone position in comparison to the other five based on specific geometric parameters [1, 2]. For the two investigated head postures the observed measured input waveforms were used.