A rational approach to defining principal axes of multidirectional wall shear stress in realistic vascular geometries, with application to the study of the influence of helical flow on wall shear stress directionality in aorta

摘要

The distribution of arterial lesions is attributed by the prevalent mechanistic theory to the proatherogenic role played by low and oscillatory wall shear stress (WSS). However, discrepancies observed when comparing WSS distribution with location of regions with lesion prevalence challenge this theory and have recently stimulated the idea that a role in endothelial mechanosensing is played by WSS multidirectionality, which could contribute to explain the observed discrepancies.