Numerical Modeling of Pulsating Inflow to the Pulmonary Arteries in TCPC Morphology Using FSI Approach

The Fontan surgery is performed on patients with a single ventricle heart defect to prevent the combination of highly-oxygenated and poorly-oxygenated blood. Blood flow in total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) which culminates an ordinary Fontan operation is practically steady-state but this flow is not appropriate for respiratory systems. This article investigates an approach in Fontan surgery that has been recently proposed in order to make the pulmonary blood flow pulsating. Moreover, for investigating the compliance of vessels and its effects on blood flow in TCPC, we have used the FSI (Fluid Structure Interaction) method as well as rigid wall assumption for comparison purposes. Our TCPC model structure has obtained from CT Angiography (CTA) scan of a single ventricle patient who has undergone a normal Fontan surgery. In this new procedure, pulmonary stenosis (PS), containing high pressure and pulsating flow, has been added to the original geometry for pulsating the main flow and then its effect on the general flow in left and right pulmonary arteries has been studied by increasing the inlet velocity to PS. In overall, our results show that this new approach increases the pulsations of pulmonary flow.