Local analysis of biomechanical arterial wall factors in atherosclerotic coronary arteries

Atherosclerosis is an arterial condition characterized by the accumulation mainly of lipid tissue, resulting in the narrowing and stiffening of arteries. It is the leading cause of death among cardiovascular diseases and its development has been associated with wall shear (WSS) and wall mechanical stress (WMS). This study aimed to analyse WSS...

From Stress to Strain for Damage Prediction in Atherosclerotic Plaques: A Twelve-Metric Sensitivity Study using Plaque-Specific Fibre Architectures

From CTA to 3D modelling: A computational framework for morphometrical assessment and biomechanical analysis of atherosclerotic carotid arteries

Background: Ischemic stroke is a major cause of death worldwide. Atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries is an established predictor of these events. Ideally, patient-specific prevention plans can be developed that target advanced plaque development prior to events. Morphometry of advanced calcified plaque phenotypes can be assessed through...

A modeling pipeline and parametric study to estimate the biomechanical behaviour of bio-engineered fibrous caps

<b>Background:</b> Atherosclerosis is a progressive arterial disease that gives rise to plaque. Rupture thereof is a main cause of myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke. A plaque can have a fibrotic layer between its lipid pool and the arterial lumen, which is termed a fibrous cap (FC). Rupture of this FC can expose thrombogenic plaque...

Implementation of Passive and Active Material Behaviour of Cardiac Tissue into the Finite Element Software ABAQUS via a User Subroutine

Intro - The rapidly developing technology of cardiac finite element modelling aims to improve heart failure treatment by quantifying stresses acting in the cardiac tissue. Cardiac finite element modelling may improve heart failure treatment by providing more insight in the pathophysiology, enabling a patient-specific assessment and improving the...

Application of Virtual Fields Method for the mechanical characterization of atherosclerotic plaques

Atherosclerosis is a lipid-driven inflammatory disease of the arteries. It causes<br/>increased thickness of the intima layer of an artery, due to build-up of, among<br/>others, lipid deposits. Eventually, this could cause rupture of the blood vessel’s<br/>wall, leading to thrombus forming and possibly to clinical events. Clinically, the<br/...

Global and local analysis of the mechanical and structural characteristics of carotid atherosclerotic plaques for rupture risk assessment

The rupture of atherosclerotic plaques present in vital arteries is the main trigger of fatal cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes. Plaque rupture is a mechanical failure of the fibrous plaque tissue that ensues upon large deformations of the tissue, induced by the blood pressure. Current knowledge on the rupture...

The effects of local fibre organization on the elastic and rupture behaviour of tissue engineered fibrous cap models

Atherosclerosis is a cardiovascular disease in the arteries and a primary cause of death in the industrialized world. Most deaths due to atherosclerosis occur when the fibrous cap covering the necrotic core ruptures, leading to a blood clot. To determine whether an atherosclerotic plaque will rupture requires the development of accurate...

Local atherosclerotic plaque composition and plaque rupture: An explorative study

<b>Introduction:</b> Carotid atherosclerosis is characterized by the build-up of the so-called plaque tissue in the wall of the carotid artery. The rupture of carotid plaques can lead to acute manifestations, including ischemic stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA). The mechanism responsible for rupture is not yet unravelled, complicating...

A Strain Energy Limiter Approach for Atherosclerotic Plaque Rupture Modelling

Atherosclerosis is a prevalent cardiovascular disease and defined as plaque formation inside the arterial intima layer. The atherosclerotic plaque is characterized as anisotropic, soft tissue and a potential plaque rupture could result in life-threatening clinical events, such as ischemic attack or stroke. The plaque rupture mechanism is still...

Application of OCT and IVUS to investigate the combined effect of plaque structural stress and wall shear stress on plaque progression in human coronary arteries

Introduction: Atherosclerosis, the major source of cardiovascular diseases, is one of the leading causes of death. During atherosclerosis the arterial wall is affected by a complex process of lipid driven inflammation that leads to thickening of the arterial wall resulting in a so called plaque. Because of plaque growth, the lumen of the artery...

Calcification & Fibrous Tissue Characteristics in Atherosclerotic Plaques: A Combined Analysis and Modeling Approach

Atherosclerotic plaque rupture is the main cause of acute myocardial infarction and stroke, the two leading causes of death worldwide. Rupture of plaque tissue is a mechanical event, where plaque stress or strain locally exceeds its strength. Biomechanical studies agree with histopathological findings that a large lipid pool and thin fibrous cap...

Pressure induced deformation measurements on atherosclerotic porcine iliac arteries: An MRI study

Aim: Inspect the MRI image sequence to see if it can image the components of an atherosclerotic plaque and investigate if pressure induced deformation measurements can be done on these images. Methods: Four porcine iliac arteries with atherosclerotic plaques were scanned with a T2 imaging sequence in a 7T MRI scanner. One high resolution scan...