Abstract
Aortic dissection is a dangerous pathological condition where blood intrudes into the layers of the arterial walls, creating an artificial channel (false lumen). In the absence of thrombosis or surgical intervention, blood will enter the false lumen through the proximal tear, and join the true lumen again through a distal tear. Rupture of the weakened outer wall will result in extremely high mortality rates. Type B thoracic aortic dissection (TAD), occurring along the descending aorta, can be repaired surgically by the deployment of an endovascular stent graft, concealing the proximal entry tear. Blood might still flow into the false lumen (FL) through the distal tear. The domain of such flow should be minimized, as complete thrombosis of the FL is generally believed to be more beneficial for the patient. The dependence on the area ratios of the lumens and size of these tears is studied by computational fluid dynamics.
Highlights
Techniques and principles of continuum mechanics, especially those of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), have been used with increasing popularity in analyzing the characteristics and diseases of the cardiovascular system [1,2,3,4,5], e.g. stenosis, aneurysms and dissection [6,7,8,9]
Aortic dissection is a dangerous pathological condition where blood intrudes into the layers of the arterial walls, creating an artificial channel
In the terminology of clinical medicine (Stanford classification scheme), thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) is termed type A / B if the dissection occurs along the ascending / descending aorta respectively, with the latter usually associated with a higher survival rate
Summary
Techniques and principles of continuum mechanics, especially those of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), have been used with increasing popularity in analyzing the characteristics and diseases of the cardiovascular system [1,2,3,4,5], e.g. stenosis, aneurysms and dissection [6,7,8,9]. The main objective here is to employ CFD to examine one particular pathological configuration, namely, thoracic aortic dissection (TAD). TAD is a dangerous condition, whereby tears along the ascending or descending aorta generate artificial channels (false lumens) of blood flow [10,11,12,13,14]. Untreated TAD may lead to rupture of the vessels, and results in high mortality rates for the patients. In the terminology of clinical medicine (Stanford classification scheme), TAD is termed type A / B if the dissection occurs along the ascending / descending aorta respectively, with the latter usually associated with a higher survival rate.
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