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Optical Coherence Tomography Based Biomechanical Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Coronary Atherosclerosis Progression
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Intimal thickness is not associated with wall shear stress patterns in the human right coronary artery

Anil K Joshi1, Richard L Leask, Jerry G Myers

  • 1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
|October 9, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Low wall shear stress (WSS) and intimal thickness in the right coronary artery (RCA) were examined. Findings suggest WSS is not related to intimal thickness in the human RCA.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Science
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Pathology

Background:

  • Low wall shear stress (WSS) is linked to atherosclerosis in arteries.
  • The right coronary artery (RCA) is a common site for cardiovascular disease.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between intimal thickness and WSS in the human RCA.
  • To determine if WSS covariation with intimal thickness is present in the RCA.

Main Methods:

  • Postmortem histological analysis of intimal thickness in human RCAs.
  • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to calculate WSS.
  • Statistical comparison of intimal thickness and WSS data.

Main Results:

  • A significant correlation between intimal thickness and WSS was found in only one of the four RCAs studied.
  • No consistent relationship was observed between intimal thickness and WSS across the sample.

Conclusions:

  • WSS does not appear to be directly related to intimal thickness in the human RCA.
  • The findings suggest other factors may be more influential in RCA atherogenesis.
Abstract

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