Patient-Specific Stented Coronary Bifurcations: Numerical Analysis of Near-Wall Quantities and the Bulk Flow

The mechanisms and the causes of the in-stent restenosis process in coronary arteries are not fully understood. One of the most relevant phenomena, which seems to be associated to this process, is an altered hemodynamics in the stented wall region [1]. In vivo local measurements of velocities and their gradients in human coronary arteries are very difficult and can hardly be applied to successfully investigate the fluid dynamic field [1]. Alternatively, virtual models of blood flow in patient-specific coronary arteries allow the study of local fluid dynamics and the computation of the wall shear stress (WSS) and other quantities which can be related to the risk of restenosis.