Assessment of the effects of increasing levels of physiological realism in the computational fluid dynamics analyses of implanted coronary stents

Coronary stent implantation can improve blood flow in an artery that has been narrowed by the build up of arterial plaque. However, the implantation of the stent will change the geometry of the vessel wall. The haemodynamic effects of the stents presence and alteration of the vessel wall are unclear. The redistribution of flow induced vessel wall shear stress (WSS) and wall shear stress gradient (WSSG) may directly contribute to restenosis (re-blockage). Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used extensively to identify these parameters in stented vessels. However, simplifications to the model of the stented artery are common. In this paper, computational domains of stented arteries with increasing levels of physiological realism are created. CFD is used to predict the WSS and WSSG for each set of computational domains. Finally, the results show that certain simplifications are not valid for CFD analyses of implanted coronary stents.