Abstract
Accurate estimation of mechanical properties of the different atherosclerotic plaque constituents is important in assessing plaque rupture risk. The aim of this study was to develop an experimental set-up to assess material properties of vascular tissue, while applying physiological loading and being able to capture heterogeneity. To do so, a ring-inflation experimental set-up was developed in which a transverse slice of an artery was loaded in the radial direction, while the displacement was estimated from images recorded by a high-speed video camera. The performance of the set-up was evaluated using seven rubber samples and validated with uniaxial tensile tests. For four healthy porcine carotid arteries, material properties were estimated using ultrasound strain imaging in whole-vessel-inflation experiments and compared to the properties estimated with the ring-inflation experiment. A 1D axisymmetric finite element model was used to estimate the material parameters from the measured pressures and diameters, using a neo-Hookean and Holzapfel–Gasser–Ogden material model for the rubber and porcine samples, respectively. Reproducible results were obtained with the ring-inflation experiment for both rubber and porcine samples. Similar mean stiffness values were found in the ring-inflation and tensile tests for the rubber samples as 202 kPa and 206 kPa, respectively. Comparable results were obtained in vessel-inflation experiments using ultrasound and the proposed ring-inflation experiment. This inflation set-up is suitable for the assessment of material properties of healthy vascular tissue in vitro. It could also be used as part of a method for the assessment of heterogeneous material properties, such as in atherosclerotic plaques.
Highlights
Rupture of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery is a major (15–20% of all cases) cause for stroke (Chaturvedi et al 2005)
Physiological loading is caused by the blood pressure in the radial direction, and given the fact that plaque tissue is highly anisotropic, the tissue behaviour might be different in the radial direction
Our goal is to develop an experimental set-up to assess material properties of vascular tissue, while applying physiological loading and being able to capture heterogeneity
Summary
Rupture of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery is a major (15–20% of all cases) cause for stroke (Chaturvedi et al 2005). Surgical removal of carotid plaques, endarterectomy, is the standard treatment for patients with severe. Several methods to determine material properties of human atherosclerotic plaques have been proposed. Physiological loading is caused by the blood pressure in the radial direction, and given the fact that plaque tissue is highly anisotropic, the tissue behaviour might be different in the radial direction. Only global stiffness values were obtained in these previous studies, whereas the properties of the different plaque components are desired in order to make an accurate model
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