Biomech Model Mechanobiol
DOI 10.1007/s10237-017-0893-7
ORIGINAL PAPER
Numerical modeling of hemodynamics scenarios of patient-specific
coronary artery bypass grafts
Francesco Ballarin
1,2
· Elena Faggiano
1,3
· Andrea Manzoni
4
·
Alfio Quarteroni
4
· Gianluigi Rozza
2
· Sonia Ippolito
5
· Carlo Antona
6
·
Roberto Scrofani
6
Received: 6 October 2016 / Accepted: 27 February 2017
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017
Abstract A fast computational framework is devised to the
study of several configurations of patient-specific coronary
artery bypass grafts. This is especially useful to perform
a sensitivity analysis of the hemodynamics for different
flow conditions occurring in native coronary arteries and
bypass grafts, the investigation of the progression of the coro-
nary artery disease and the choice of the most appropriate
surgical procedure. A complete pipeline, from the acquisi-
tion of patient-specific medical images to fast parameterized
computational simulations, is proposed. Complex surgical
configurations employed in the clinical practice, such as Y-
grafts and sequential grafts, are studied. A virtual surgery
platform based on model reduction of unsteady Navier–
Stokes equations for blood dynamics is proposed to carry
out sensitivity analyses in a very rapid and reliable way.
A specialized geometrical parameterization is employed to
B Francesco Ballarin
francesco.ballarin@sissa.it
1
Present Address: MOX - Modeling and Scientific Computing,
Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, P.za
Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
2
mathLab, Mathematics Area, SISSA,
via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy
3
Present Address: Computational Mechanics and Advanced
Materials Group, Department of Civil Engineering and
Architecture, University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 3, 27100 Pavia,
Italy
4
CMCS - Modelling and Scientific Computing, Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Station 8, 1015
Lausanne, Switzerland
5
Radiology Unit, Ospedale Luigi Sacco,
Via G. B. Grassi 74, 20157 Milan, Italy
6
Cardiovascular Surgery Unit, Ospedale Luigi Sacco, Via G.
B. Grassi 74, 20157 Milan, Italy
compare the effect of stenosis and anastomosis variation on
the outcome of the surgery in several relevant cases.
Keywords Cardiovascular simulations · Computational
reduction strategies · Coronary bypass grafts ·
Patient-specific computing · Data assimilation ·
Geometrical parameterization
List of symbols
Coronary arteries of the right coronary tree
RCA Right coronary artery
PDA Posterior descending artery
PL Postero-lateral artery
Coronary arteries of the left coronary tree
LCA Main trunk of the left coronary artery
LAD Left anterior descending artery
Diag. Diagonal branch of the left anterior descending
artery
LCX Left circumflex artery
OM Obtuse marginal artery
Bypass grafts
LITA Left internal thoracic artery
Rad. Radial artery bypass grafts
SVG Saphenous vein bypass grafts
123