Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, including details on aaa (abdominal aortic aneurism), cardiac disease, treatment, symptoms, surgery.

Blood flow and structure interactions in a stented abdominal aortic aneurysm model.

Li Z, Kleinstreuer C

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7910, 3198 Broughton Hall, Raleigh, NC 27695-7910, USA.

Since the introduction of endovascular techniques in the early 1990s for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), the insertion of an endovascular graft (EVG) into the affected artery segment has been greatly successful for a certain group of AAA patients and is continuously evolving. However, although minimally invasive endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is very attractive, post-operative complications may occur. Typically, they are the result of excessive fluid-structure interaction dynamics, possibly leading to EVG migration. Considering a 3D stented AAA, a coupled fluid flow and solid mechanics solver was employed to simulate and analyze the interactive dynamics, i.e., pulsatile blood flow in the EVG lumen, pressure levels in the stagnant blood filling the AAA cavity, as well as stresses and displacements in the EVG and AAA walls. The validated numerical results show that a securely placed EVG shields the diseased AAA wall from the pulsatile blood pressure and hence keeps the maximum wall stress 20 times below the wall stress value in the non-stented AAA. The sac pressure is reduced significantly but remains non-zero and transient, caused by the complex fluid-structure interactions between luminal blood flow, EVG wall, stagnant sac blood, and aneurysm wall. The time-varying drag force on the EVG exerted by physiological blood flow is unavoidable, where for patients with severe hypertension the risk of EVG migration is very high.

Published 2 May 2005 in Med Eng Phys, 27(5): 369-82.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Research Today. All Rights Reserved.