Computational blood flow and vessel wall modeling in a CT-basedthoracic aorta after stent-graft implantation

摘要

Abnormal blood flow conditions and structural fatigue within stented vessels may lead to undesired failure causing death to the patient. Image-based computational modeling provides a physical and realistic insight into the patient-specific biomechanics and enables accurate predictive simulations of development, growth and failure of cardiovascular diseases as well as associated risks. Controlling the efficiency of an endovascular treatment is necessary for the evaluation of potential complications and predictions on the assessment of the pathological state. In this paper we investigate the effects of stent-graft implantation on the biomechanics in a patient-specific thoracic aortic model. The patient geometry and the implanted stent-graft are obtained from morphological data based on a CT scan performed during a controlling routine. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structure mechanics (CSM) simulations are conducted based on the finite volume method (FVM) and on the finite element method (FEM) to compute the hemodynamics and the elastomechanics within the aortic model, respectively. Physiological data based on transient pressure and velocity profiles are used to set the necessary boundary conditions. Further, the effects of various boundary conditions and definition of contact interactions on the numerical stability of the blood flow and the vessel wall simulation results are also investigated. The quantification of the hemodynamics and the elastomechanics post endovascular intervention provides a realistic controlling of the state of the stented vessel and of the efficiency of the therapy. Consequently, computational modeling would help in evaluating individual therapies and optimal treatment strategies in the field of minimally invasive endovascular surgery.