The effect of coarctation degrees on wall shear stress indices

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is a congenital narrowing of the descending aorta, impacting blood flow.
• Accurate diagnosis and treatment of CoA require understanding both global and local hemodynamics.
• Current clinical methods lack sufficient approaches for precise CoA assessment and severity grading.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop innovative computational simulations for quantifying global and local hemodynamics in CoA.
• To enable progress in non-invasive diagnostic approaches for various CoA severities.
• To propose a framework for patient-specific CoA treatment using wall shear stress (WSS) indices and pressure gradients.

Main Methods:

• Development of computational blueprint simulations incorporating fluid-solid interaction models.
• Analysis of wall shear stress (WSS) indices and pressure gradients.
• Comparison of hemodynamic parameters in different severities of coarctation of the aorta.

Main Results:

• Demonstration of how severe CoA impacts aortic hemodynamics compared to milder cases.
• Validation of computational tools for assessing local and global hemodynamics in CoA.
• Establishment of WSS indices as valuable parameters for CoA severity assessment.

Conclusions:

• Computational simulations offer a promising non-invasive method for diagnosing and assessing CoA severity.
• The proposed framework using WSS indices can enhance patient-specific treatment strategies for CoA.
• This approach provides valuable insights for clinical decision-making before and after interventions for coarctation of the aorta.