An experimental investigation of fractional flow reserve of human coronary artery

• Main Author: Herald, Kinston John
• Other Authors: Tuan Tran
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168134
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Aortic valve stenosis is a type of heart valve disease and can be severe if not detected on time. This happens when the valve between the lower left heart chamber and the aorta is narrowed. Volume of blood flow is restricted from the heart to the aorta and to the rest of the body which may eventually lead to death. There are numerous ways to diagnose aortic valve stenosis. Methods such as Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), Echocardiogram, computerized tomography (CT) coronary angiography may help to determine the condition’s severity but may not be suitable for certain patients. The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of using non-invasive methods or other external methods that had demonstrated better feasibility and accuracy to obtain the Fractional Flow Resistance (FFR) in a human coronary artery. The FFR is an index to determine the severity of a stenosis in the artery. An FFR value of less than 0.8 is typically considered to indicate a significant stenosis that is compromising blood flow to the heart, whereas a value above 0.8 suggest that the stenosis is not significant and treatment is not required. Therefore, further evaluation was necessary to determine the significance of the stenosis. This investigation looked into both pulsatile and steady flow conditions and the results were compared to find out any correlations between the conditions. Pulsatile flow condition had been proven to be successful according to the investigation by the previous student. In addition, steady flow condition had also been thoroughly investigated in this study to understand the possibilities and limitations of this non-invasive method to calculate the FFR. The experimental setup consisted of 3D printed silicon coronary arteries with different stenosis diameters, an in-vitro test setup and a pressure catheter for accurate data collection.