Comparing hemodynamic and risk of cerebral diseases in Circle of Willis and two prevalent variants through 3D numerical models

The Circle of Willis (COW) is an important collateral pathway of the cerebral blood flow. The hemodynamic assessment of the intracranial arteries especially in CoW could provide valuable diagnostic information about internal carotid occlusion, aneurysm development etc. This research is dedicated to 3D numerical study on Cow and two prevalent variants including ACoA absent and PCoA absent. To have more realistic study patient specific geometry is employed and a hyperplastic model is applied to arteries wall. Non—Newto11ian and pulsatile behavior of blood flow is considered and model is solved by PS] analysis. The results show that absence of ACoA will not impact the velocity and flow distribution but the absence of PCoA leads to more changes including 10% increase in the maximum velocity. Moreover the results for PCoA absent demonstrate 7% maximum pressure in comparison to complete Cow. Although the absence of any artery leads to higher risk of disease due to higher pressure and velocity but it is not the same for all the arteries. The maximum pressure and pressure gradient in the PCOA absent are higher than the complete CoW especially in PCAs and MCA bifurcations but in some parts such as right MCA and ACA the situation is vice versa.

Comparing hemodynamic and risk of cerebral diseases in Circle of Willis and two prevalent variants through 3D numerical models Keywords:

Circle of Willis , Anatomical Variation , Patient-specific model , Hernodynarnic