Impact of plaques in the left coronary artery on wall shear stress and pressure gradient in coronary side branches
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026

Optical Coherence Tomography Based Biomechanical Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Coronary Atherosclerosis Progression
Published on: January 15, 2022
Thanapong Chaichana1, Zhonghua Sun, James Jewkes
1a Discipline of Medical Imaging, Department of Imaging and Applied Physics , Curtin University , Perth WA 6845 , Australia.
Abstract:
In this study, we investigate plaques located at the left coronary bifurcation. We focus on the effect that the resulting changes in wall shear stress (WSS) and wall pressure stress gradient (WPSG) have on atherosclerotic progress in coronary artery disease. Coronary plaques were simulated and placed at the left main stem and the left anterior descending to produce >50% narrowing of the coronary lumen. Computational fluid dynamics analysis was carried out, simulating realistic physiological conditions that show the in vivo cardiac haemodynamic. WSS and WPSG in the left coronary artery were calculated and compared in the left coronary models, with and without the presence of plaques during cardiac cycles. Our results showed that WSS decreased while WPSG was increased in coronary side branches due to the presence of plaques. There is a direct correlation between coronary plaques and subsequent WSS and WPSG variations based on the bifurcation plaques simulated in the realistic coronary models.
More Related Videos
07:51Implantation of a Carotid Cuff for Triggering Shear-stress Induced Atherosclerosis in Mice
Published on: January 13, 2012
09:36A Magnetic Resonance Imaging-based Computational Protocol for Analysis of Plaque Morphology and Hemodynamics in Patients with Carotid Artery Stenosis
Published on: August 12, 2025
Related Concept Videos
Coronary Artery Disease II: Pathophysiology
Atherosclerosis I: Introduction
Principal Stresses
Coronary Artery Disease I: Introduction
Shearing Stress
The average shearing stress can be calculated by dividing the shear by the area of the cross-section.
Stress: General Loading Conditions
The shearing force, possessing potential directionality within the plane of the section, is simplified into two component forces running parallel to the x and y axes.