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

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...

Local characterization of collagen architecture and mechanical failure properties of fibrous plaque tissue of atherosclerotic human carotid arteries

Atherosclerotic plaque rupture in carotid arteries is a major cause of cerebrovascular events. Plaque rupture is the mechanical failure of the heterogeneous fibrous plaque tissue. Local characterization of the tissue's failure properties and the collagen architecture are of great importance to have insights in plaque rupture for clinical...

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...

Multicomponent material property characterization of atherosclerotic human carotid arteries through a Bayesian Optimization based inverse finite element approach

Objective: Plaque rupture in atherosclerotic carotid arteries is a main cause of ischemic stroke and it is correlated with high plaque stresses. Hence, analyzing stress patterns is essential for plaque specific rupture risk assessment. However, the critical information of the multicomponent material properties of atherosclerotic carotid...

Fingerprinting stain fields in tissue rupture: A conceptual approach: DIC in the diagnosis of atherosclerosis

Atherosclerotic plaque rupture is the underlying cause of 50% of deaths in western society. Although screening methodologies exist, plaques are highly complex, and the parameters used to measure plaque vulnerability are often insufficient for correct medical screening. Since plaque rupture occurs when the vascular forces exceed the plaque...

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...