An anatomically based model of transient coronary blood flow in the heart (Q2783744)

The authors present a finite difference model of blood flow that accounts for much of the fundamental physiology of vascular blood flow, and simultaneously retains the efficiency required for implementation on large vascular networks. The model is applied to a geometric theory of the six largest generations of the coronary arterial network. The two-step Lax-Wendroff finite difference method is used to solve the governing equations obtained under the general assumptions concerning pressure radius relationship, radial velocity profile and the pressure loss at vessel bifurcations. The flow through bifurcations are found by solving the equations of conservation of mass and momentum and by using a multi-dimensional Newton-Raphson method. Using a geometric representation of the coronary network, blood flow simulations are performed and compared with experimental data to verify the coronary model. The results show realistic pressure distributions through arterial and venous vessel segments, a fractal relationship between the spatial heterogeneity of blood flow and tissue sample size, and a power law behaviour for the tails of simulated wash-out curves. The approach provides a modeling foundation, combining transient coronary blood flow and vascular geometry which can be used to investigate the regional and temporal variation of blood flow through the coronary network.