Modeling of blood flow in stenosed artery with a clot

Abstract

The presence of blood clot in the blood stream can lead to partial or even complete blockage of the blood vessel. The condition can get worse in a stenosed artery. The clot will alter the flow field and modify the pressure distribution. To understand the changes in the blood flow due to presence of the clot, the fluid mechanics of blood flow in a stenosed artery with a clot is studied through a mathematical analysis. Blood is modelled as an incompressible Newtonian fluid and the flow is treated to be axi-symmetric. The artery is modelled as a rigid tube with a stenosis and an elongated shape representing a clot inside it. Both the stenosis and the clot are axi-symmetric over the length of the artery. The governing equations of motion are solved by using regular perturbation analysis. The results show that in the presence of the clot, the important physiologically flow characteristics such as pressure gradient and wall shear stress vary markedly across the stenotic lesion. The height of the peak of the clot increases the wall shear stress. Results are sensitive to not only the geometry of the stenotic wall but also to the position of the clot.