  The link between atherosclerosis and blood flow-induced haemodynamic luminal
shear stresses is well established. However, this understanding has not been
translated into clinical practice because of the interdependent effects of the
complex coronary anatomy and a multitude of potential haemodynamic metrics,
which have been challenging to delineate. Thus, this study aims to identify
anatomical and haemodynamic differences in coronary trees at different stages
of stenoses. A total of 39 left coronary trees were considered, which are
publicly available. Each coronary tree was dissected into bifurcations and
non-bifurcating segments for comparisons. We calculated a full set of
anatomical metrics and performed transient flow simulations to solve the
normalised luminal area exposed to Low Time-Average Endothelial Shear Stress
(%LowTAESS), High Oscillatory Shear Index (%HighOSI), and High Relative
Residence Time (%HighRRT). We statistically investigated the differences
between non-stenosed (n=20, Diameter Stenosis DS=0%), moderately (n=12,
0%<DS<70%), and severely (n=7, DS>=70%) stenosed cases, whereby p<0.05* is
considered significant. Only the average curvature and %HighOSI differed
between the non-stenosed, and moderately or severely stenosed for the coronary
trees (p=0.024* and p<0.001*), and non-bifurcating segments (p=0.027* and
p<0.001*<EMAIL_ADDRESS>and<EMAIL_ADDRESS>significantly differed between
moderately (0%<DS<70%) and severely (DS>=70\%) stenosed trees (p=0.009* and
p=0.012*). Our findings suggest curvature and potentially %HighOSI being
critical factors in coronary plaque onset in non-bifurcating segments, whereas
%LowTAESS and %HighRRT affect plaque progression after onset.
