LAUSR

A pathologically formed blood clot or thrombus is central to major cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke. Detailed quantitative evaluation of flow and flow-mediated transport processes in the thrombus neighborhood within large artery hemodynamics is crucial for understanding disease progression and assessing treatment efficacy. This, however, remains a challenging task owing to the complexity of pulsatile viscous flow interactions with arbitrary shape and heterogeneous microstructure of realistic thrombi. Here, we address this challenge by conducting a systematic parametric simulation-based study on characterizing unsteady hemodynamics and flow-mediated transport in the neighborhood of an arterial thrombus. We use a hybrid particle—continuum-based finite element approach to handle arbitrary thrombus shape and microstructural variations. Results from a cohort of 50 different unsteady flow scenarios are presented, including unsteady vortical structures, pressure gradient across the thrombus boundary, finite time Lyapunov exponents, and dynamic coherent structures that organize advective transport. We clearly illustrate the combined influence of three key parameters—thrombus shape, microstructure, and extent of wall disease—in terms of: (a) determining hemodynamic features in the thrombus neighborhood and (b) governing the balance between advection, permeation, and diffusion to regulate transport processes in the thrombus neighborhood.