MR image-based geometric and hemodynamic investigation of the right coronary artery with dynamic vessel motion

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Research
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Accurate hemodynamic analysis in coronary arteries is crucial for understanding cardiovascular health.
• Incorporating subject-specific dynamic vessel motion is essential for realistic computational models.
• Existing methods often lack the detail to capture the full impact of cardiac motion on coronary hemodynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a subject-specific computational model of the right coronary artery (RCA) that includes dynamic vessel motion.
• To assess the effects of cardiac-induced motion on hemodynamics and wall shear stress (WSS) within the RCA.
• To evaluate the feasibility of using MRI-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a non-invasive diagnostic tool.

Main Methods:

• Acquired vascular geometries of the RCA from a healthy volunteer at 14 time points during the cardiac cycle using MRI.
• Obtained high temporal resolution velocity waveform data in the proximal RCA.
• Developed a subject-specific CFD model incorporating dynamic vessel motion calculated via an active contour model.

Main Results:

• The model successfully captured the dynamic variations in RCA radius and curvature throughout the cardiac cycle.
• Cardiac-induced dynamic motion of the RCA significantly influenced instantaneous WSS and the oscillatory shear index.
• The study demonstrated the feasibility of subject-specific MRI-based CFD for coronary artery analysis.

Conclusions:

• Subject-specific MRI-based CFD is a viable approach for analyzing coronary artery hemodynamics.
• Dynamic vessel motion significantly affects hemodynamic parameters like WSS in the RCA.
• Further optimization to reduce scan duration could establish this method as a valuable non-invasive tool for clinical research.