Effects of Variation in Carotid Bifurcation Anatomy on the Oxygen Transport at the Artery Wall(Fluids Engineering)

Abstract

The carotid bifurcation is found to be a major site of Atherosclerotic plaque formation and intima-media thickening. In the present study, oxygen mass transfer in the human carotid bifurcation has been numerically investigated, focusing on effects of the bifurcation angle and the volumetric flow ratio between the internal carotid artery (ICA) and the external carotid artery (ECA) on the magnitudes and distributions of the oxygen wall flux. Three-dimensional models of bifurcations with two different bifurcation angles mimicking the real bifurcation anatomy were constructed to perform simulations of steady blood flow under the wall boundary condition of a constant oxygen concentration. Results reveal that the axial flow separation at the outer common-internal carotid wall can significantly alter the distribution and the magnitude of the oxygen wall flux, depending strongly on the bifurcation angle. The magnitude of the lowest Sherwood (Sh) number (non-dimensional oxygen wall flux) at the ICA sinus, where Atherosclerotic plaque is likely to develop, is sensitive to the change in the value of the volumetric flow ratio rather than the change in the bifurcation anatomy.