A new CFD based non-invasive method for functional diagnosis of coronary stenosis

Accurate functional diagnosis of coronary stenosis is vital for decision making in coronary revascularization. With recent advances in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), fractional flow reserve (FFR) can be derived non-invasively from coronary computed tomography angiography images (FFR_CT) for functional measurement of stenosis. However, the accuracy of FFR_CT is limited due to the approximate modeling approach of maximal hyperemia conditions. To overcome this problem, a new CFD based non-invasive method is proposed.

Instead of modeling maximal hyperemia condition, a series of boundary conditions are specified and those simulated results are combined to provide a pressure-flow curve for a stenosis. Then, functional diagnosis of stenosis is assessed based on parameters derived from the obtained pressure-flow curve.

The proposed method is applied to both idealized and patient-specific models, and validated with invasive FFR in six patients. Results show that additional hemodynamic information about the flow resistances of a stenosis is provided, which cannot be directly obtained from anatomy information. Parameters derived from the simulated pressure-flow curve show a linear and significant correlations with invasive FFR (r > 0.95, P < 0.05).

The proposed method can assess flow resistances by the pressure-flow curve derived parameters without modeling of maximal hyperemia condition, which is a new promising approach for non-invasive functional assessment of coronary stenosis.