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Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Hemodynamics in Plaque Erosion

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Abstract

We investigated whether local hemodynamics were associated with sites of plaque erosion and hypothesized that patients with plaque erosion have locally elevated WSS magnitude in regions where erosion has occurred. We generated 3D, patient-specific models of coronary arteries from biplane angiographic images in 3 human patients with plaque erosion diagnosed by optical coherence tomography. Using computational fluid dynamics, we simulated pulsatile blood flow and calculated both wall shear stress (WSS) and oscillatory shear index (OSI). We also investigated anatomic features of plaque erosion sites by examining branching and local curvature in X-ray angiograms of barium-perfused autopsy hearts. Neither high nor low magnitudes of mean WSS were associated with sites of plaque erosion. OSI and local curvature were also not associated with erosion. Anatomically, 8 of 13 hearts had a nearby bifurcation upstream of the site of plaque erosion. This study provides preliminary evidence that neither hemodynamics nor anatomy are predictors of plaque erosion, based upon a very unique dataset. Our sample sizes are small, but this dataset suggests that high magnitudes of WSS, one potential mechanism for inducing plaque erosion, are not necessary for erosion to occur.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship (11PRE7040000, Campbell) and an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship (11POST7210012, Timmins), by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-0644493, and by the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Research Partnership Grant No. R01 HL70531. The Robert M. Nerem International Travel Award supported training for the execution of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Ian C. Campbell, Lucas H. Timmins, Don P. Giddens, Alessandro Veneziani, W. Robert Taylor & John N. Oshinski

  2. Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Lucas H. Timmins, S. Tanveer Rab, Habib Samady, Michael C. McDaniel, Aloke V. Finn & W. Robert Taylor

  3. CVPath Institute, Inc., 19 Firstfield Road, Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA

    Renu Virmani

  4. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Alessandro Veneziani

  5. Cardiology Division, Atlanta VA Medical Center, 1670 Clairmont Road, Decatur, GA, 30032, USA

    W. Robert Taylor

  6. Department of Radiology and Imaging Science, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    John N. Oshinski

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  1. Ian C. Campbell
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Correspondence to Ian C. Campbell.

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Associate Editor Ajit P. Yoganathan oversaw the review of this article.

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Campbell, I.C., Timmins, L.H., Giddens, D.P. et al. Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Hemodynamics in Plaque Erosion. Cardiovasc Eng Tech 4, 464–473 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-013-0165-3

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