Blood flow in stented coronary artery : numerical fluid dynamics analysis

Recent generalization of stent implantation in interventional cardiology require full understanding of blood flow cartography. Interdepency between fluid stresses and in vivo cells covering lumen artery are regularly accused to be one of the instigator of neointimal proliferation (thickening of the inner layer of blood vessels) and mid-term restenosis. This study purpose to numericaly investigate the three dimensional flow in vicinity of an endoprothesis. We used a finite element method to simulate a steady flow of non-Newtonian fluid in a coronary artery using a rigid wall approximation. Results on the velocities, wall shear stress and wall shear stress gradients are presented. Theses simulations allow identification of stagnation site and low wall shear stress area that may be prone to clot formation and neointimal hyperplasia. Intra stent flow knowledge can potentially contribute to optimization of prothesis design and decreasing second intervention rate.