The carotid artery bifurcation in the neck is a region prone to the development of atherosclerotic plaques, the rupture of which can lead to stroke. Plaques are thought to occur here due to the complex flow patterns influenced by the geometry of vessels in this region. Most clinical studies typically assume that Common Carotid Artery (CCA), proximal to the bifurcation, is relatively straight enough to consider a symmetric distribution of blood velocities across the lumen. However a recent study has shown the presence, in vivo, of velocity profiles strongly skewed to one side of the lumen for mildly curved CCAs. In Amir's thesis, the objective is to identify geometric parameters that can be used to quantify CCA shape and to determine whether those parameters are correlated with, or at least can anticipate, the degree of velocity profile skewing.
Aside from giving insight about atherogenesis, it is hoped that the extension of this work will ultimately lead to guidelines for anticipating, and possibly compensating for, skewed velocity profiles in studies of blood flow in mildly curved arteries, such as Doppler ultrasound measurements of blood flow; or the design of vascular bypass grafts, where velocity profile skewing has recently been shown to improve long-term patency.