Method and System for Non-Invasive Functional Assessment of Coronary Artery Stenosis Using Flow Computations in Diseased and Hypothetical Normal Anatomical Models
A method and system for non-invasive assessment of coronary artery stenosis is disclosed. A patient-specific real anatomical model of a diseased coronary artery of a patient is generated from medical image data of the patient. A hypothetical normal anatomical model is generated for the diseased coronary artery of the patient. Blood flow is simulated in each of the patient-specific real anatomical model of the diseased coronary and the hypothetical normal anatomical model for the diseased coronary artery. A hemodynamic index is calculated using simulated blood flow rates in the patient-specific real anatomical model of the diseased coronary and the hypothetical normal anatomical model for the diseased coronary artery. In particular, fractional flow reserve (FFR) for the diseased coronary artery is calculated as the ratio of the simulated blood flow rate in the patient-specific real anatomical model of the diseased coronary artery and the simulated blood flow rate in the hypothetical normal anatomical model for the diseased coronary artery.