Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations to Deepen Understanding of the Hemodynamic Underlying Atrial Fibrillation and Improve Therapeutic Approaches

This chapter provides an overview of some possible applications of patient-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to gain insight into the fluid dynamic mechanism underlying the onset and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF), improve treatment planning, and control disease progression. CFD represents a valuable non-invasive approach to determine and evaluate significant parameters in a very complex fluid dynamic system such as the left atrium in AF. Different applications of our CFD model to derive parameters such as left atrial appendage ostium velocity, wall shear stress, and endothelial cell activation potential, which are shown to be promising indicators for a quantitative prognostic evaluation of AF, are presented and critically evaluated from the perspective of defining a quantitative approach for stroke risk prediction in the context of precision medicine.