Numerical Simulation of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft with an Assistant Graft

The conventional bypass design is to implant a graft on the stenosed host artery allowing blood to flow bypass the stenotic artery. However, restenosis is a challenging problem which finally results in reoperation. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new bypass graft design of coronary artery with an assistant graft for the treatment of coronary artery stenosis. An additional assistant graft was employed in the new design compared with the conventional ETS anastomosis. Numerical simulations were performed by means of finite volume method using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. Results demonstrated that the new anastomoses model provided a more smooth flow at the distal ETS anastomosis without any stagnation point on anastomotic bed and vortex formation in the heel region. Oscillatory shear index (OSI) and time-averaged wall shear stress gradient (TAWSSG) at the artery bed of the distal ETS anastomosis were reduced. The coronary artery bypass graft with an assistant graft is feasible to improve the local hemodynamics and diminish the probability of restenosis in the treatment of coronary artery stenosis.