Abstract
The presence of downstream curvature can affect the blood flow in artery leading to complicated hemodynamics. Thus, the current study is focused to explore the effect of downstream curvature of artery wall on the severity of stenosis by assessing the Fractional Flow Reserve, Lesion Flow Coefficient and Pressure Drop Coefficient under various downstream curvature angles in coronary artery. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of hyperemic flow in curved arteries was performed with various downstream curvature angles (0 degrees 30 degrees 60 degrees 90 degrees and 120 degrees) subjected to three different blockage (70%, 80% and 90%) area stenosis (AS). It is discovered that flow resistance caused by stenosis increases further due to the downstream curvature of artery. The FFR decreased by 5.4%, 8.6% and 13.1% for 70%, 80%, and 90%AS respectively as the downstream curvature of artery increased from 0 degrees to 120 degrees. The increase in CDP and decrease in LFC was found as the downstream curvature increased from 0 degrees to 120 degrees. The differences in diagnostic parameters FFR, CDP and LFC shows that misinterpretation could be possible while evaluating the functional significance of stenosis, so the downstream curvature must be contemplated while evaluating the importance of stenosis as an additional parameter for FFR.