AN ATHEROSCLEROTIC CORONARY ARTERY PHANTOM FOR PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY

Myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, is the single leading cause of death in North America. It results from the rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque, which occurs in response to both mechanical stress and inflammatory processes. In order to validate computational models of atherosclerotic coronary arteries, a novel technique for molding realistic compliant phantom featuring injection-molded inclusions and multiple layers has been developed. This transparent phantom allows for particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow analysis and can supply experimental data to validate computational fluid dynamics algorithms and hypothesis.