Computational modeling of plaque progression in coronary arteries

Atherosclerosis is a medical condition becoming the number one cause of death worldwide. For this reason, any developement that may help physicians in early diagnostic and selection of the most appropriate treatment strategy is of great importance. In this paper we describe three-dimensional computer model of plaque formation and development for human coronary artery. In order to validate proposed model we used ten specific patients from CT study belonging to one of the following groups: (1) de-novo group - patients with new formed plaques, (2) old-lesions group - patients with plaques with progression and (3) control group - patients with plaques without progression. Plaque volume progression is fitted by using two time points for baseline and follow up. Results obtained within this study indicate high potential of this model to be used in clinical practice, thus assisting physicians by providing them valuable information about future disease progression.