Study on hemodynamics in patient-specific thoracic aortic aneurysm

The objective of this study is to investigate the hemodynamics in patient-specific thoracic aortic aneurysm and discuss the reason for formation of aortic plaque. A 3-Dimensional pulsatile blood flow in thoracic aorta with a fusiform aneurysm and 3 main branched vessels was studied numerically with the average Reynolds number of 1399 and the Womersley number of 19.2. Based on the clinical 2-Dimensional CT slice data, the patient-specific geometry model was constructed using medical image process software. Unsteady, incompressible, 3-Dimensional Navier-Stokes equations were employed to solve the flow field. The temporal distributions of hemodynamic variables during the cardiac cycle such as streamlines, wall shear stresses in the arteries and aneurysm were analyzed. Growth and rupture mechanisms of thoracic aortic aneurysm in the patient can be analyzed based on patient-specific model and hemodynamics simulation.