Image-based biomechanical modeling of aortic wall stress and vessel deformation: Response to pulsatile arterial pressure simulations

摘要

Image-based modeling of cardiovascular biomechanics may be very helpful for patients with aortic aneurysms to predict the risk of rupture and evaluate the necessity of a surgical intervention. In order to generate a reliable support it is necessary to develop exact patient-specific models that simulate biomechanical parameters and provide individual structural analysis of the state of fatigue and characterize this to the potential of rupture of the aortic wall. The patient-specific geometry used here originates from a CT scan of an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA). The computations are based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) and simulate the wall stress distribution and the vessel deformation. The wall transient boundary conditions are based on real time-dependent pressure simulations obtained from a previous computational fluid dynamics study. The physiological wall material properties consider a nonlinear hyperelastic constitutive model, based on realistic ex-vivo analysis of the aneurismal arterial tissue. The results showed complex deformation and stress distribution on the AAA wall. The maximum stresses occurred at the systole and are found around the aneurismal bulge in regions close to inflection points. Biomechanical modeling based on medical images and coupled with patient-specific hemodynamics allows analysing and quantifying the effects of dilatation of the arterial wall due to the pulsatile aortic pressure. It provides a physical and realistic insight into the wall mechanics and enables predictive simulations of AAA growth and assessment of rupture. Further development integrating endovascular models would help evaluating non-invasively individual treatment strategies for optimal placement and improved device design.