Hemodynamic analysis of coronary artery microcirculation using a pig's morphometric data

Stenosed coronary artery may play an important role in various coronary heart diseases. However, it has not been known how much stenosed coronary artery affects coronary circulation system, quantitatively. The present study developed a mathematical model for microcirculation in the left common coronary artery (LCCA) with adopting a previously measured morphological data and mechanical properties of the coronary vessels. We examine the effect of percent diameter stenosis on blood flow rate and shear stress for two cases. Case I comprised of onestenosed element at 10^th order (% diameter stenosis are 10, 30, and 50, respectively). Case II consisted of completely occluded element at 10^th order (number of occluded elements are 0, 1, and 2 out of 8, respectively). As the level of stenosis becomes severe, the shear stress increases significantly but the flow rate reduction was relatively small. However, for the occluded case, there was linearly proportional reduction of flow rate according to number of occluded elements. Either such high shear stress associated with coronary artery stenosis or reduced flow rate due to occlusion may cause atherosclerosis and myocardial ischemia.