Advances in numerical methods and three-dimensional imaging techniques have enabled the quantification of cardiovascular mechanics in subject-specific anatomic and physiologic models. Patient-specific models are being used to guide cell culture and animal experiments and test hypotheses related to the role of biomechanical factors in vascular diseases. Furthermore, biomechanical models based on noninvasive medical imaging could provide invaluable data on the in vivo service environment where cardiovascular devices are employed and on the effect of the devices on physiologic function. Finally, patient-specific modeling has enabled an entirely new application of cardiovascular mechanics, namely predicting outcomes of alternate therapeutic interventions for individual patients. We review methods to create anatomic and physiologic models, obtain properties, assign boundary conditions, and solve the equations governing blood flow and vessel wall dynamics. Applications of patient-specific models of cardiovascular mechanics are presented, followed by a discussion of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

SUMMARY: We present a systematic comparison of computational hemodynamics in arteries between a one‐dimensional (1‐D) and a three‐dimensional (3‐D) formulation with deformable vessel walls. The simulations were performed using a series of idealized compliant arterial models representing the common carotid artery, thoracic aorta, aortic bifurcation, and full aorta from the arch to the iliac bifurcation. The formulations share identical inflow and outflow boundary conditions and have compatible material laws. We also present an iterative algorithm to select the parameters for the outflow boundary conditions by using the 1‐D theory to achieve a desired systolic and diastolic pressure at a particular vessel. This 1‐D/3‐D framework can be used to efficiently determine material and boundary condition parameters for 3‐D subject‐specific arterial models with deformable vessel walls. Finally, we explore the impact of different anatomical features and hemodynamic conditions on the numerical predictions. The results show good agreement between the two formulations, especially during the diastolic phase of the cycle. © 2013 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.