Computational Fluid Dynamics Study Of Pulmonary Artery Hemodynamics In Congenital Heart Disease

Complex congenital heart diseases involving the right heart system are associated with high mortality and disability rate.Operations are usually required for palliation or correction of these diseases.The long-term results are related to both the pathological anatomy and surgical techniques about reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract(RVOT)and pulmonary artery(PA).Adverse hemodynamic factors,which are recognized to affect the prognosis,could lead to vascular wall remodeling,surgical site stenosis and increased myocardial energy loss.Due to the complicated morphology and individual variability,it is warranted to study the patient-specific pulmonary artery flow for the exploration of secondary pathological mechanism postoperatively and improvements of surgical techniques.In this study,computational flow dynamics(CFD)and computer aided design(CAD)were applied to study of patient-specific pulmonary artery flow.We have analyzed the pulmonary artery flow characteristics,energy efficiency and lung perfusion under a variety of pulmonary states including main pulmonary artery(MPA)stenosis and Tetralogy of Fallot(TOF).Furthermore,CAD was used for virtual surgery design in patient-specific PA models.According to the analysis and comparison of morphology and hemodynamic characteristics under different surgical schemes,optimized strategies were put forward.The aim of the study is to overcome the deficiencies of traditional imagology and operation by application of numerical simulation approach to observe,analyze and predict the surgical outcomes.Combining CFD and CAD,surgical design could also be optimized.The results of research would provide theoretical and methodological basis for building of preoperative planning and evaluation system.