Comparison of Mechanical Parameters of the Great Saphenous Vein under Various Test Conditions

摘要

The mechanical parameters of the human veins are often measured in different test conditions. There are no studies on the influence of different test conditions on these parameters to date. This complicates the comparison between experimental data in different studies and creates the need to establish a universal test method for mechanical parameters acquisition. The influence of the test conditions of the test results was studied by comparison between mechanical parameters of veins using uniaxial tension in air at a room temperature and in the sodium chloride solution at 37 °C. Due to the substantial nonlinearity of the stress-strain data and the lack of suitable constitutive equation the proposed parameters for comparison were maximum stress, maximum strain and Young's moduli at small and large strains. The results differed significantly for Young's modulus at small strains and for maximum strains in different test conditions. This conclusion indicates the necessity of conducting the mechanical tests in conditions closest to in vivo including the presence of liquid medium and corresponding temperature.