• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.836-845
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• 2005

Atherosclerosis, which is a degenerative vascular disease, is believed to occur in the blood vessels due to deposition of cholesterol or low density lipoprotein (LDL). Atherosclerotic lumen narrowing causes reduction of blood flow due to hemodynamic features. Several hypothetical theories related to the hemodynamic effects have been reported : high shear stress theory, low shear stress theory, high shear stress gradient theory, flow separation and turbulence theory, and high pressure theory. However, no one theory clearly explains, the causes of atherosclerosis. The objective of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of the generation of atherosclerosis. In the study, the database of Korean carotid and coronary arteries for geometrical and hemodynamic clinical data was established. The atherosclerotic sites were predicted by the computer simulations. The results of the computer simulation were compared with the in vivo experimental results, and then the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis by using the clinical data and several hypothetical theories were investigated. From the investigation, it was concluded carefully that the mechanism of the generation of atherosclerosis was related to the hemodynamic effects such as flow separation and oscillatory wall shear stress on the vessel walls.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.529-532
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• 2001

The purposes of the present study are to investigate hemodynamic characteristics and to define shear-sensitive remodeling in the stenosed coronary models. Two models for the compensatory remodelling used for this research are a pre-stenotic dilation and a post-stenotic dilation models for the computer simulation. The peak wall shear stress on the post-stenotic model is higher than that of the pre-stenotic model. Two recirculation zones are generated in the pre-stenotic model, and the zones in the pre-stenotic model are smaller than those in the post-stenotic model. Variation of the wall shear stress in the pre-stenotic model is lower than that in the post-stenotic model. In computer simulation with the post-stenotic model, higher temporal and spatial shear fluctuation and stress suggested shear-sensitive remodeling. Shear-sensitive remodeling may be associated with the increased risk of plaque rupture, the underlying cause of acute coronary syndromes, and sudden cardiac death.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1915-1918
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• 2003

Atherosclerosis, which is a degenerate disease, is believed to occur in the vascular system due to deposition of cholesterol and low density lipoprotein(LDL) or thrombosis on the blood vessel. Atherosclerosis narrows arterial lumen, which is known as stenosis phenomenon of blood vessel. Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is thought to occur mainly by aging. Restenosis phenomenon is observed in the same site of insertion of a stent and balloon angioplasty after treatment of interventional theraphy. Several hypothetical theories related to the generation of atherosclerosis have been reported: high shear stress theory, low shear stress theory, high shear stress gradient theory, flow separation and turbulence theory and high pressure theory. However, no one theory clearly explains the causes of atherosclerosis. In the present study the generation of atherosclerosis in the left coronary artery is investigated. The hypotheses are verified by using the computer simulation.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.753-758
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• 2003

The purpose of the present study was to establish the mechanism of the generation of atherosclerosis by analyzing the hemodynamic variables in the coronary artery where atherosclerosis occurs frequently. From the previous results, the stenosis phenomena due to atherosclerosis were related to not only biochemical reaction between blood and blood vessel but also the hemodynamic factors like flow separation and oscillatory wall shear stress. The present study aimed to investigate the causes of the generation and progression of atherosclerosis in the coronary artery. This study also aimed to develop the softwares which generate automatically three dimensional vascular models obtained by the angiogram images and the computer vision techniques. In the present study, the flow patterns for full three-dimensional hemodynamic characteristics were analyzed. To understand the three-dimensional hemodynamic characteristics, the wall shear stress distributions and secondary flows were investigated quantitatively.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2003

Backgrounds: The present study in angulated coronary stenosis was to evaluate the influence of velocity and wall shear stress (WSS) on coronary atherosclerosis, the changes of hemodynamic indices following coronary stenting, as well as their effect of evolving in-stent restenosis using human in vivo hemodynamic parameters and computed simulation quantitatively and qualitatively. Methods: Initial and follow-up coronary angiographies in the patients with angulated coronary stenosis were performed (n=80). Optimal coronary stenting in angulated coronary stenosis had two models: < 50 % angle changed(model 1, n=43), > 50% angle changed group (model 2, n=37) according to percent change of vascular angle between pre- and post-intracoronary stenting. Flow-velocity wave obtained from in vivo intracoronary Doppler study data was used for in vitro numerical simulation. Spatial and temporal patterns of velocity vector and recirculation area were drawn throughout the selected segment of coronary models. WSS of pre/post-intracoronary stenting were calculated from three-dimensional computer simulation. Results: Follow-up coronary angiogram demonstrated significant difference in the percent of diameter stenosis between two groups (group 1: $40.3{\pm}30.2$ vs. group 2: $25.5{\pm}22.5%$, p<0.05). Negative WSS area on 3D simulation, which is consistent with re-circulation area of velocity vector, was noted on the inner wall of post-stenotic area before stenting. The negative WSS was disappeared after stenting. High spatial and temporal WSS before stenting fell into within physiologic WSS after stenting. This finding was prominent in Model 2 (p<0.01) Conclusions: The present study suggests that hemodynamic forces exerted by pulsatile coronary circulation termed as WSS might affect on the evolution of atherosclerosis within the angulated vascular curvature. Moreover, geometric change, such as angular difference between pre / post-intracoronary stenting might give proper information of optimal hemodynamic charateristics for vascular repair after stenting.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2003

Axillo-bifemoral (Ax-Fem) bypass are now well accepted for bilateral iliac artery occlusion as the second best option. This extra-anatomical (unnatural) bypasses, however, have various hemodynamic liabilities affecting the patency. Hemodynamic conditions of each different type of Ax-Fem bypass were assessed with computer simulation model to determine the hemodynamically more sound type. Simulation models of five different types of Ax-Fem bypass were constructed. Our investigation based on the computer simulation models have shown distinct differences between two most popular Lazy-S type and Inverted-C type on the distribution of flow volume, shear stress and recirculation zone, etc., though both types have shown similar clinical results. Lazy-S type has shown better hemodyanmic status than inverted-C type. The theoretical advantage of "Lazy-S" type has never been adequately proved for its superiority clinically over the inverted-C type. Inverted-C type is now in more favor with clinically better results in spite of many hemodynamic liabilities including retrograde flow to the branching graft. The improvement of over-all long-term patency rate of various extra-anatomical bypasses is still warranted through proper correction of the hemodynamic liability. Even though clinical outcome of the extra-anatomical bypass has been equal regardless of the type of crossover femoral graft configuration, there are distinct differences on the hemodynamic characteristics among various types of configuration. Further hemodynamic study in the pulsatile flow status is warranted to correct hemodynamic defects with proper modification of various hemodynamic factors of each model.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.6-9
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• 2008

Analyzing the characteristics of blood flow in the blood vessels is very important to diagnose the circulatory diseases. In order to investigate the hemodynamic characteristics in vivo, the measurements of blood flows inside the extraembryonic arterial and venous blood vessels of chicken embryos were carried out using an in vivo micro-PIV technique. The circulatory diseases are closely related with the formation of abnormal hemodynamic shear stress regions, thereby it is important to get blood velocity and vessel's morphological information according to the vessel configuration and the flow conditions. In this study, the flow images of RBCs in blood vessels were obtained using a high-speed CMOS camera with a spatial resolution of approximately 14.6${\mu}$m${\times}$14.6${\mu}$m in the whole circulation network of blood vessels. The blood flows in the veins and arteries show steady laminar and unsteady pulsatile flow characteristics, respectively. The mean blood flows merged (in veins) and bifurcated (in arteries) smoothly into the main blood vessel and branches, respectively, without any flow separation or secondary flow which accompanying large variation of shear stress. Vorticity was high in the inner regions for both types of vessels, where the radius of curvature varied greatly. The instantaneous flows in the arterial blood vessels showed noticeable pulsatility due to the heart beat, and the main features of the velocity waveforms, including pulsatile shape, retrograde flow, mean velocity, maximum velocity and pulsatile frequency, were significantly dependent on the pulsatile condition which dominates the arterial blood flow. In near future, these in vivo experimental results of blood flow measured in various extraembryonic blood vessels would be very useful to understand the hemodynamic characteristics of human blood flows and various blood flow researches for clinically useful hemodynamic discoveries as well.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2011

The importance of shear thinning non-Newtonian blood rheology on the hemodynamic characteristics of idealized cerebral saccular aneurysms were investigated by carrying out CFD simulations assuming two different non-Newtonian rheology models (Carreau and Ballyk models). To explore effects of vessel curvature, a straight and a curved vessel geometry were considered. The wall shear stress(WSS), relative residence time(RRT) and velocity distribution were compared at the different phases of cardiac cycle. As expected, blood entered the aneurysm at the distal neck and created large vortex in both aneurysms, but with higher momentum on the curved vessel. Hemodynamic characteristics such as WSS, and RRT exhibited only minor effects by choice of different rheological models although Ballyk model produced relatively higher effects. We conclude that the assumption of Newtonian fluid is reasonable for studies aimed at quantifying the hemodynamic characteristics, in particular, WSS-based parameters, considering the current accuracy level of medical image of cerebral aneurysm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.893-899
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• 2010

A previous study showed that hemodynamics is correlated with stenosis in the coronary artery. The flow characteristics and the distributions of the hemodynamic wall parameters in the coronary artery are investigated under physiological flow condition. The present study also aims to establish the mechanism of the generation of atherosclerosis by analyzing the hemodynamic variables in the coronary artery where atherosclerosis frequently occurs. The stenosis phenomena due to atherosclerosis are related to not only the biochemical reaction between blood and blood vessels but also the hemodynamic factors sush as flow separation and oscillatory wall shear stress. As the bifurcated angle increases, the size of the recirculation area that appears in the cross section increases and disturbed flow is observed in this area. We speculate that this area is the starting point of atherosclerosis in the coronary artery.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 2019

Objective : The objective of this study was to analyze patient-specific blood flow in ruptured aneurysms using obtained non-Newtonian viscosity and to observe associated hemodynamic features and morphological effects. Methods : Five patients with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by ruptured posterior communicating artery aneurysms were included in the study. Patients' blood samples were measured immediately after enrollment. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was conducted to evaluate viscosity distributions and wall shear stress (WSS) distributions using a patient-specific geometric model and shear-thinning viscosity properties. Results : Substantial viscosity change was found at the dome of the aneurysms studied when applying non-Newtonian blood viscosity measured at peak-systole and end-diastole. The maximal WSS of the non-Newtonian model on an aneurysm at peak-systole was approximately 16% lower compared to Newtonian fluid, and most of the hemodynamic features of Newtonian flow at the aneurysms were higher, except for minimal WSS value. However, the differences between the Newtonian and non-Newtonian flow were not statistically significant. Rupture point of an aneurysm showed low WSS regardless of Newtonian or non-Newtonian CFD analyses. Conclusion : By using measured non-Newtonian viscosity and geometry on patient-specific CFD analysis, morphologic differences in hemodynamic features, such as changes in whole blood viscosity and WSS, were observed. Therefore, measured non-Newtonian viscosity might be possibly useful to obtain patient-specific hemodynamic and morphologic result.