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Biomechanics

Arterial curvature has a negligible impact on the wall mechanics of patient-specific atherosclerotic coronary arteries

(D-144) Arterial curvature has a negligible impact on the wall mechanics of patient-specific atherosclerotic coronary arteries

Friday, October 13, 2023

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM PDT

Location: Exhibit Hall - Row D - Poster # 144

Presenting Author(s)

RF

Ryan Faris

Student
University of Texas at Dallas
Austin, Texas, United States

Co-Author(s)

QT

Quynh Tran

Student
University of Texas at Dallas, United States
Jeremy Warren, MSc

Graduate Research Assistant
The University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, Texas, United States
CM

Clark Meyer

Associate Professor
University of Texas at Dallas, United States

Primary Investigator(s)

HH

Heather Hayenga

Associate Professor
University of Texas at Dallas, United States

Introduction::

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death in America, yet studies identifying the impact of arterial geometry on wall mechanics at an individual level are lacking. The wall stress within the coronary arteries is known to play an important role in the development and growth of the plaque associated with CAD. Here, we examine the effects that the curvature of a coronary artery has on structural stress, especially near atherosclerotic lesions.

Materials and Methods:: Utilizing an in-house tetrahedral finite-element approach, sixteen 3D artery models were developed based on clinical intravascular ultrasound-virtual histology (IVUS-VH) images from four patients. Four models were developed for each patient: straight (Case 1), curved 30 degrees (Case 2), curved 60 degrees (Case 3), and curved 90 degrees (Case 4) [Figure 1]. The elements were assigned materials and properties corresponding to the IVUS-VH identification. The wall stresses at patient-specific systolic pressure were calculated using FEBio and the data of the curved models were compared to their straight counterpart. The 95% confidence intervals of the wall stress differences were calculated.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: The results from these simulations indicate that the overall average wall stresses from each model were between 20 and 70 kPa. Within each patient, differences between Case 1 and the corresponding Case 2, 3, and 4 arteries were 0.940 +/- 0.157, 1.564 +/- 0.274, and 2.327 +/- 0.38 kPa, respectively. As expected, the greater the curvature, the greater the wall stress differs from Case 1. However, we note that the composition of the plaque in each artery, as decided by the individual patient IVUS-VH data, was found to play a greater role than curvature in the magnitude of wall stress. The differences found between the straight and curved arteries were negligible to the overall wall stresses. Other factors, such as artificial adventitial layer thickness or mesh resolution, may also play a role in the computed stress, but further investigation is needed to determine their level of significance.

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