Smaller, stiffer coronary bypass can moderate or reverse the adverse effects of wave reflections.
The question of whether the mechanical stiffness of a coronary bypass or that of a diseased coronary artery can have a significant effect on the hemodynamics in these vessels is addressed analytically, with emphasis on the effects of wave reflections. The analysis is based on a model of the vessels involved, and the results show the essential hemodynamic effects in each vessel. It is found that in the absence of a bypass graft, wave reflections resulting from a narrowing and stiffening of a diseased coronary artery have the effect of actually aiding the flow in the diseased vessel. In the presence of a bypass graft, however, the effects of wave reflections are reversed and become adverse to flow in both the bypass graft and the diseased coronary artery. A stiffer bypass moderates these effects and is therefore preferable to a more elastic bypass. The adverse effects also depend critically on the relative diameter of the bypass. Here the results indicate that a bypass of smaller diameter than that of the native coronary artery can moderate and even reverse the adverse effects of wave reflections resulting from the presence of the bypass.
Alderson
H
H
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada N6A 5B7.
Zamir
M
M
D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000592:standards; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis / Q000592:standards*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D004548:Elasticity; D006439:Hemodynamics; D018056:Hemorheology; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D014654:Vascular Patency / Q000502:physiology