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Applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Congenital Heart Disease: A Review
Amartya Dave1,2, Raquel Dos Santos1, Usmaan Siddiqi1
1Section of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Insights
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) aids in understanding blood flow in congenital heart disease (CHD). This review highlights CFD
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Medical Imaging and Modeling
- Pediatric Cardiology
Background:
- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offers insights into complex blood flow patterns.
- CFD is crucial for understanding pathophysiology and predicting outcomes in cardiovascular conditions.
- Congenital heart disease (CHD) presents unique challenges due to complex geometries and patient-specific pathologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the application of CFD in major domains of congenital heart disease research.
- To focus on single ventricle defects and aortic coarctation, synthesizing seminal and recent studies.
- To bridge technical CFD advancements with their clinical implications for cardiovascular professionals.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on CFD applications in congenital heart disease.
- Analysis of consensus seminal works and recent research trends.
- Focus on specific CHD areas: single ventricle defects and aortic coarctation.
Main Results:
- Significant growth in CFD research for CHDs over the last two decades.
- Accelerated development of new methodologies and recommendations in the past decade.
- Identification of key CFD parameters and their clinical relevance in CHD studies.
Conclusions:
- CFD is an increasingly valuable tool for understanding and managing congenital heart disease.
- This review provides context on CFD's technical progress and clinical utility for cardiovascular professionals.
- Contemporary CFD applications offer practical insights into patient-specific CHD management.
Abstract:
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a tool that allows for the analysis of otherwise unobservable blood flow patterns. In the context of medicine, CFD enables researchers to better understand acute and chronic pathophysiology as well as utilize modeling tools to predict blood flow patterns in response to surgical intervention. Such a tool is particularly useful in the field of congenital heart disease (CHD), where complex geometries and patient-specific pathology are common. Research applying CFD to study CHDs has significantly grown in the last twenty years, with new methodologies and recommendations being published at an even faster pace in the last decade. Many currently available reviews are focused on a particular area of progress or on the technical approaches to CFD geared toward the clinician. This review focuses on CFD application within the major domains of CHD research, specifically single ventricle defects and aortic coarctation, reviewing consensus seminal work while highlighting more recent avenues of study. Balancing discussion of CFD parameters with potential clinical implications of study results, this review not only aims to provide cardiovascular professionals context for the technical advancements being made in the field but also a sense of contemporary CFD's utility in clinical practice.
