Research Article Numerical Study for Blood Flow in Pulmonary Arteries after Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot

Copyright © 2012 Ming-Jyh Chern et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Pulmonary regurgitation (PR) is a common phenomenon in pulmonary arteries in patients after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). The regurgitation fraction of left pulmonary artery (LPA) is usually greater than right pulmonary artery (RPA) according to clinic data. It may be related to blood flow in pulmonary arteries. Therefore, understanding hemodynamics in pulmonary arteries helps to comprehend the reason. The aim of this study is to use 3D reconstructed pulmonary artery models from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to use numerical approaches for simulation of flow variations in pulmonary arteries after repair of TOF. From the numerical results, the blood flow is influenced by the bifurcation angles and geometry of pulmonary artery. The regurgitation happens first in LPA after repair of TOF due to the small angle between LPA and main pulmonary artery (MPA). The recirculation region which obstructs forward blood flow to the left lung is found in LPA during acceleration of systole. We also analyze the pressure distribution; the extreme pressure variations are in dilation area of MPA. Numerical data including regurgitation in MPA, LPA, and RPA are compared with phase contrast MR measured data. Good agreements are found between numerical results and measured data. 1