Q. Long et al., The combination of magnetic resonance angiography and computational fluid dynamics: A critical review, CR R BIOMED, 26(4), 1998, pp. 227-274
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has proven to be a valuable technique in
the study of blood flow in arteries because of its capability of obtaining
quantitatively velocities and wall shear stress. However, the "bottleneck"
problem limiting the application of CFD is the difficulty of constructing
anatomically realistic arterial geometries.
In this survey, an overview is presented of the progress over the last deca
de in the development of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) techniques, m
edical image processing and CFD, as well as the combination of these techni
ques in hemodynamics research. It is demonstrated that with modem angiograp
hic techniques such as MRA, noninvasive measurement of human angiograms bec
omes possible and practical. Together with digital medical image processing
and analysis techniques, computational models can be constructed for the "
real" human arteries without making any geometric assumptions. When allied
with state-of-the-art CFD codes, velocity and wall shear stress distributio
ns, as well as particle trajectories, can be determined in the arteries.