Wall Shear Stress and Pressure Distribution on Aneurysms and Infundibulae in the Posterior Communicating Artery Bifurcation

A growing number of cases of rupture at an infundibulum, progression of infundibulum to a frank aneurysm, and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in the posterior communicating artery (PCoA) have been reported. Using patient-specific geometric models of the supraclinoid internal carotid artery (ICA) with PCoA infundibulum or aneurysm, high-resolution computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed by solving the Navier-Stokes equations with a spectral/hp element method. Simulation results show that the flow impinges at the distal wall of infundibulum near the outside of the ICA bend and creates a region of higher pressure (4-5 mmHg) surrounded by a band of a high wall shear stress (WSS) (20-30 N/m(2) on average). At the proximal end of the infundibulum, another stagnation area is formed characterized by low WSS (< 1 N/m(2)) and high oscillating shear index. This impingement region seems to coincide with the locations of the rupture of infundibulae or progression to aneurysms. In addition, the pulsatile flow becomes unstable due to the presence of aneurysms or aneurysm-like infundibulae, and this leads to WSS temporal fluctuations inside the aneurysm, which may accelerate the degenerative processes in the vessel walls.