COMPUTER MODELING OF STENT DEPLOYMENT AND PLAQUE PROGRESSION IN THE CORONARY ARTERIES

In this study stent deployment modeling with plaque formation and pro- gression for specific patient in the coronary arteries are described. State of the art method for the reported investigations of blood flow in the stented arteries is described. In the met- hod section, image segmentation method for arteries with stent is shortly described. Blood flow simulation is described with Navier-Stokes and continuity equation. Blood vessel tis- sue is modeled with nonlinear viscoelastic material properties. The coupling of fluid dynamics and solute dynamics at the endothelium was achieved by the Kedem-Katchalsky equations. The inflammatory process is modeled using three additional reaction-diffusion partial differential equations. Coupled method with mixed finite element and DPD (Dissi- pative Particle Dynamics) method is presented. In the results section, the examples with rigid and deformable arterial wall with stented and unstented arteries are presented. Effecti- ve stress analysis results for stent deployment have been shown. It can be seen that stent reduces wall shear stress significantly after deployment which is caused by opening the artery and reducing the narrowing. Some results for stent deployment model obtained with solver developed under PAK software package. These computer models can make better understanding and preparation of the surgeons for stent deployment in everyday clinical practice.