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The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging

, Volume 35, Issue 9, pp 1563–1572 | Cite as

Simultaneous evaluation of plaque stability and ischemic potential of coronary lesions in a fluid–structure interaction analysis

  • Xinlei Wu
  • Clemens von Birgelen
  • Su Zhang
  • Daixin Ding
  • Jiayue Huang
  • Shengxian TuEmail author
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

The measurement of fractional flow reserve (FFR) and superficial wall stress (SWS) identifies inducible myocardial ischemia and plaque vulnerability, respectively. A simultaneous evaluation of both FFR and SWS is still lacking, while it may have a major impact on therapy. A new computational model of one-way fluid–structure interaction (FSI) was implemented and used to perform a total of 54 analyses in virtual coronary lesion models, based on plaque compositions, arterial remodeling patterns, and stenosis morphologies under physiological conditions. Due to a greater lumen dilation and more induced strain, FFR in the lipid-rich lesions (0.81 ± 0.15) was higher than that in fibrous lesions (0.79 ± 0.16, P = 0.001) and calcified lesions (0.79 ± 0.16, P = 0.001). Four types of lesions were further defined, based on the combination of cutoff values for FFR (0.80) and maximum relative SWS (30 kPa): The level of risk increased from (1) plaques with mild-to-moderate stenosis but negative remodeling for lipid-rich (Type A: non-ischemic, stable) to (2) lipid-rich plaques with mild-to-moderate stenosis and without-to-positive remodeling (Type B: non-ischemic, unstable) or plaques with severe stenosis but negative remodeling for lipid-rich (Type C: ischemic, stable) to (3) lipid-rich plaques with severe stenosis and without-to-positive remodeling (Type D: ischemic, unstable). The analysis of FSI to simultaneously evaluate inducible myocardial ischemia and plaque stability may be useful to identify coronary lesions at a high risk and to ultimately optimize treatment. Further research is warranted to assess whether a more aggressive treatment may improve the prognosis of patients with non-ischemic, intermediate, and unstable lesions.

Keywords

Plaque stability Myocardial ischemia Fractional flow reserve Fluid–structure interaction Cardiovascular biomechanics 

Abbreviations

CFD

Computational fluid dynamics

DS%

Percent diameter stenosis

FEA

Finite element analysis

FFR

Fractional flow reserve

FSI

Fluid–structure interaction

MLD

Minimum lumen diameter

rSWS

Relative superficial wall stress

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Notes

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81871460), Program of Shanghai Technology Research Leader, and research programs from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (YG2016ZD09 and YG2015ZD04).

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

ST has received a research grant from Medis medical imaging and Pulse medical imaging technology. CvB indicated institutional research grants to the research department of TC Twente by Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, Biotronik and Medtronic (not related to the present study). XW declares that he has no conflict of interest. SZ declares that she has no conflict of interest. DX declares that she has no conflict of interest. JH declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Supplementary material

10554_2019_1611_MOESM1_ESM.avi (5.5 mb)
Supplementary material 1 Video 1: Dynamic relative superficial wall stress of fluid-structure interaction analysis of 10 mm-long lipid-rich plaques with 50% diameter stenosis and without arterial remodeling (AVI 5668 kb)
10554_2019_1611_MOESM2_ESM.avi (371 kb)
Supplementary material 2 Video 2: Blood flow velocity of fluid-structure interaction analysis of 10 mm-long lipid-rich plaques with 50% diameter stenosis and without arterial remodeling (AVI 371 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer Nature B.V. 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Biomedical Instrument Institute, School of Biomedical EngineeringShanghai Jiao Tong UniversityShanghaiChina
  2. 2.Shanghai Med-X Engineering Research CenterShanghai Jiao Tong UniversityShanghaiChina
  3. 3.Thoraxcentrum Twente, Medisch Spectrum TwenteEnschedeThe Netherlands

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