Vasculitis and its effect on hemodynamics

Background and Aims: Vasculitis causes blood vessel wall swelling, thickening, and decreased blood flow. This can cause ischemia, plaque, aneurysms, and blood clots in specific organs and systems. Kawasaki, Polyarteritis nodosa, giant cell, and Buerger's diseases are vasculitis-related. Corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and others are used. Bioreactors can replicate inflamed blood vessel environments to study vasculitis progression and occurrence.
Methods: Ansys multiphysics software was used to simulate flow in the carotid artery (8.5-inch length, 6mm diameter) with a 0.1-inch diameter, 2-inch length occlusion. The geometry, representing arterial inflammation, included a no-pressure outlet, a no-slip condition at the wall, and plug velocity at the inlet of 12cm/s. Steady-state analysis considered blood with 1060 kg/m3 density and 3.5 Pa-s dynamic viscosity. Convergence criteria was set to 10-5 for momentum and mass.
Results: Ansys CFX post was used to collect results on velocity and shear stress values in the vicinity of the occlusion. Velocity is the highest at the center of the occlusion. a seen in figure 1A, B. Shear stress is highest at the most stenotic region, that is at the center of the occlusion as seen if figure 1C. A