Numerical study on post-stenotic dilatation.

Steady flows and pulsatile flows of a Newtonian fluid through a channel with a rectangular hump were numerically studied as a two-dimensional model of blood flow in a constricted artery. From the numerical calculation, it was shown that one of the hydrodynamic causes of endothelial lesion of artery and post-stenotic dilatation can be found in the large temporal variation of shear stress behind a constricted portion of artery. Local maximum of the pressure there can be seen as secondary factor for the post-stenotic dilatation.