Computational Fluid Dynamics of Blood Flow at the Left Atrium and Left Atrium Appendage

In this study, we analyze local hemodynamics in the Left Atrium (LA) and Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Our scope is to describe a novel application of CFD to analyze/describe the hemodynamic behavior at the LA and LAA according to different LAA anatomic morphologies and fluid velocities. 3D semi-automated reconstruction approach used to segment and reconstruct left atrium geometries and obtain the computational domain. Cardiac computed tomography scans (CTs) used from 3 different patients. Calculated velocities obtained from simulations varied significantly according to LAA morphology as follows: broccoli (0.1328 m/s), chicken wing (0.2468 m/s) and windsock (0.1268 m/s). We calculated as well the wall shear stress (WSS) at left atrium chamber as mean values 3 Pa, 5 Pa, 4 Pa for the patients, respectively.