Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease, also known as coronary heart disease, is the most common type of heart disease in the U.S. Given that the coronary arteries are responsible for supplying blood to the heart, blockage of these key channels can lead to serious complications like heart attacks. And since coronary artery disease develops over the course of decades, many with this condition are not aware until they experience one such complication.

Self-Assessment Questions:

Click here to test your understanding of Coronary Artery Disease.

Discussion Questions:

1. Drug-eluting stents are one of many existing solutions to coronary artery disease. These stents must include a material capable of eluting a drug over a specified period of time. Keeping the Htay et al. study in mind, what are some considerations for designing a drug-eluting material?
2. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery involves opening the sternum to directly access the heart and bypass a stenotic coronary artery. What if we could perform a procedure like this without opening the chest? What are some design requirements for a device that would allow a minimally invasive CABG surgery to be performed percutaneously?
3. Using the literature, educate yourself about the mechanical properties of atherosclerotic plaques. What are some of the properties of plaques that should be considered when designing treatment plans for coronary artery disease?
4. Coronary artery stenosis (narrowing due to plaque buildup) alters the fluid dynamics of blood in the local area. Using values from the literature, calculate the Reynold’s number for blood flowing through a normal coronary artery and a diseased coronary artery if the diseased artery’s radius is reduced by 50%. 
5. Coronary artery stenosis (or full blockage) can occur at any point along the coronary arteries. How do you think the pathological effects differ for proximal plaques as compared to distal plaques (proximal or distal along the artery)? Refer to Mates et al. to start your brainstorming.

Continue Reading:

• T. Htay and M. W. Liu, “Drug-eluting stent: a review and update,” Vascular Health and Risk Management, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 263–276, Apr. 2005, doi: 10.2147/vhrm.2005.1.4.263.
  • This review article covers drug-eluting stents, an important treatment option for coronary artery disease.
• D. Tang et al., “Quantifying Effects of Plaque Structure and Material Properties on Stress Distributions in Human Atherosclerotic Plaques Using 3D FSI Models,” Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, vol. 127, no. 7, pp. 1185–1194, Dec. 2005, doi: 10.1115/1.2073668.
  • This article details stress distributions on human atherosclerotic plaques using 3D modeling tools. Effects of the plaque morphology and material composition on the stress distributions are quantified and analyzed.
• R. E. Mates, R. L. Gupta, A. C. Bell, and F. J. Klocke, “Fluid dynamics of coronary artery stenosis.,” Circ Res, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 152–162, Jan. 1978, doi: 10.1161/01.RES.42.1.152.
  • This article investigates the fluid dynamics of blood flowing through a stenotic area in human coronary arteries.

About the Creator:

This video was created by a student in the Rice Bioengineering Class of 2023 (used with permission).