Computational Modeling of Flow Inside a Diseased Carotid Bifurcation

One of the leading causes for death after heart diseases and cancer in all over the world is still stroke. Most strokes happen because an artery that carries blood uphill from the heart to the head is clogged. Most of the time, as with heart attacks, the problem is atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, calcified buildup of fatty deposits on the vessel wall. The primary troublemaker is the carotid artery, one on each side of the neck, the main thoroughfare for blood to the brain. Only within the last twenty-five years, though, have researchers been able to put their finger on why the carotid is especially susceptible to atherosclerosis. In this study, the fluid dynamic simulations were done in a diseased carotid bifurcation under the steady flow conditions computationally. Reynolds numbers representing the steady flow were 300, 1020 and 1500 for diastolic, average and systolic peak flow represented by pulsatile flow waveform, respectively. In vivo geometry and boundary conditions were obtained from a patient who has stenosis located at external carotid artery (ECA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) of his common carotid artery (CCA). The location of critical flow fields such as low wall shear stress (WSS), stagnation regions and separation regions were detected near the highly stenosed region and at branching region.