Fluid structure interaction modeling of aortic arch and carotid bifurcation as the location of baroreceptors

Abstract

Hemodynamic forces play an important role in both physiological function and pathological conditions of the cardiovascular system. These forces are sensed by the mechanoreceptors of the vessel wall to give the proper response for homeostasis maintenance. Baroreceptors are a kind of mechanoreceptors which are sensitive to the abnormal stretch magnitudes. Therefore to assess the function of these receptors, predicting the stress and stretch distributions induced by the hemodynamic field to the arterial wall is crucial in the barosensitive regions.In this study, 3D patient-specific models of the aortic arch and carotid bifurcation which are the common positions of the baroreceptors are presented. Geometries were reconstructed based on MRI images and pulsatile numerical analysis was performed considering fluid-structure interaction. The hemodynamic field containing the velocity, WSS and pressure distributions was discussed in the fluid domain and the stress and deformation fields were analyzed in the solid domain. Comparing the temporal variations of pressure and circumferential stretch at the two barosensitive regions, the circumferential stretch is proposed as the criterion for quantifying the function of baroreceptors.