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Hemodynamic assessments of the ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm using fluid-structure interaction approach

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Abstract

Current assessment and management of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) rely heavily on the diameter of the ATAA and blood pressure rather than biomechanical and hemodynamic parameters such as arterial wall deformation or wall shear stress. The objective of the current study was to develop an accurate computational method for modeling the mechanical responses of the ATAA to provide additional information in patient evaluations. Fully coupled fluid structure interaction simulations were conducted using data from cases with ATAA with measured geometrical parameters in order to evaluate and analyze the change in biomechanical responses under normotensive and hypertensive conditions. Anisotropic hyperelastic material property estimates were applied to the ATAA data which represented three different geometrical configurations of ATAAs. The resulting analysis showed significant variations in maximum wall shear stress despite minimal differences in flow velocity between two blood pressure conditions. Additionally, the three different ATAA conditions identified different aortic expansions that were not uniform under pulsatile pressure. The elevated wall stress with hypertension was also geometry-dependent. The developed models suggest that ATTA cases have unique characteristic in biomechanical and hemodynamic evaluations that can be useful in risk management.

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Abbreviations

ATAA:

ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm

PWS:

peak wall stress

WSS:

wall shear stress

FSI:

fluid-structure interaction

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Acknowledgements

The financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2054-6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Han Hung Yeh & Dana Grecov

  2. Biomedical Engineering Program, University of British Columbia, 2054-6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Han Hung Yeh & Dana Grecov

  3. Department of Medicine (Cardiology), University of British Columbia, 2775 Laurel St, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1M9, Canada

    Simon W. Rabkin

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  1. Han Hung Yeh
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Correspondence to Dana Grecov.

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Yeh, H.H., Rabkin, S.W. & Grecov, D. Hemodynamic assessments of the ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm using fluid-structure interaction approach. Med Biol Eng Comput 56, 435–451 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-017-1693-z

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