Quantification of blood flow velocity in stenosed arteries by the use of finite elements: an observer-independent noninvasive method.
Interventions for peripheral arterial disease should be designed to treat a physiological rather than an anatomic defect. Thus, for vascular surgeons, functional information about stenoses is as important as the anatomic one. In case of finding a stenosis by the use of magnetic resonance angiography, it would be a matter of particular interest to derive automatically and directly objective information about the hemodynamic influence on blood flow, caused by patient-specific stenoses. We developed a methodology to noninvasively perform numerical simulations of a patient's hemodynamic state on the basis of magnetic resonance images and by the means of the finite element method. We performed patient-specific three-dimensional simulation studies of the increase in systolic blood flow velocity due to stenoses using the commercial computational fluid dynamic software package FIDAP 8.52. The generation of a mesh defining the flow domain with a stenosis and some simulation results are shown.
Mühlthaler
Hannes
H
Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. h.muehlthaler@kh-schwaz.at
Quatember
Bernhard
B
Fraedrich
Gustav
G
Mühlthaler
Markus
M
Pfeifer
Bernhard
B
Greiner
Andreas
A
Schocke
Michael F H
MF
D000465:Algorithms; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003198:Computer Simulation; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*