Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis for Drug Transport in a Curved Stenotic Right Coronary Artery

A blockage of blood vessels resulting from thrombus or plaque deposit causes serious cardiovascular diseases. This study developed a computational model of blood flow and drug transport to investigate the effectiveness of drug delivery to the stenotic sites. A three-dimensional (3D) model of the curved stenotic right coronary artery (RCA) was reconstructed based on the clinical angiogram image. Then, blood flow and drug transport with the flexible RCA wall were simulated using the fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis and compared with the rigid RCA wall. Results showed that the maximal total displacement and von Mises stress of the flexible RCA model are 2.14 mm and 92.06 kPa. In addition, the effective injecting time point for the best performance of drug delivery was found to be between 0 s and 0.15 s (i.e., the fluid acceleration region) for both rigid and flexible RCA models. However, there was no notable difference in the ratio of particle deposition to the stenotic areas between the rigid and flexible RCA models. This study will be significantly useful to the design of a drug delivery system for the treatment of the stenotic arteries by targeting drugs selectively to the stenotic sites.