Disturbance of 3D velocity profiles induced by an IVUS catheter: evaluation with computational fluid dynamics

New IVUS-based blood velocity profile measurements are under development For these velocity measurements catheter placement in an artery is necessary, but induces disturbances in the native velocity profiles. To what degree the velocity profiles are disturbed by the catheter is studied by computational fluid dynamics. Therefore a straight tube having a catheter inside, is studied for 4 inflow velocities (0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 m/s) and two catheter positions (in the center and out of the center of the tube). The influence of the catheter size on the velocity profiles is studied as well. Central catheter placement reduced the peak to mean velocity ratio, compared to no catheter inside the tube, by 24%. In contrast, catheter placement out of the center of the tube increased the peak to mean velocity ratio by 14%. These values are independent of the inflow velocities and minimally dependent on changes in catheter size. The shear stress values, however, are dependent on both catheter location and catheter size.