A CFD study of blood flow in patient-specific vessels under physiological and pathological conditions

Abstract

This study investigates through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) blood flow in patient-specific arteries under physiological and pathological conditions, such as thoracic aortic aneurysm, aortic coarctation and carotid stenosis. DICOM image files from Computed Tomography (CT) scans were obtained at the University Hospital “Paolo Giaccone” in Palermo. By employing advanced image segmentation techniques, Standard Triangulation Language (STL) files were generated and processed in CAD software for meshing and subsequent CFD simulations. The study explores wall shear stress (WSS), flow fields, and pressure distributions within the cardiovascular system. Results allow significant insights into the correlation between flow patterns and cardiovascular pathologies, with potential applications to large-scale CFD-assisted medical screening and CFD-guided surgery.