Effect of Occlusion Percentage and Lesion Length on Stenosed Coronary Artery: A Numerical Study

The Left Anterior Descending Artery (LAD) of a human arterial tree is modelled based on an analytical equation for various occlusion cases varying from 40 to 70%. The length of the lesion is also considered from 1 to 5 cm. Numerical simulation of a stenosed coronary artery for different occluded cases is carried out using 1D equations. The unknown variables, area and velocity are obtained from the characteristic variables w1 and w2 which are the solutions of a characteristic system of equations corresponding to the 1D model. A realistic pressure waveform is given at the inlet and a resistance model with zero reflection coefficient is considered at the outlet. Numerical investigations are carried out for one heart cycle comprising of systole and diastole and the 1D equations are solved using the locally conservative Galerkin method. The length of the lesion has clinical significance in the coronary artery which is graded as intermediate. The effect of occlusion percentage and lesion length on the FFR value and haemodynamic parameters is studied.