Modeling of the fracture process of the artery with atheromatic plaque during angioplasty operation using finite elements model analysis
Loading...
Date
2024-02-27
Authors
Σκαφιδάς, Ανάργυρος-Νεκτάριος
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The reduction of the inner diameter of the artery due to the creation of atheromatic plaque on the artery lumen, known as artery stenosis, disrupts the blood flow, leading to medical complications, which can be fatal. The angioplasty procedure aims to reopen the artery and uses a stent to keep it open. To improve the efficiency of the operation, different stents were developed, either by changing their material or by adding a drug coating on them. In this study an effort is made to find the point of failure of the artery during the expansion phase of the angioplasty using the in silico Finite Elements Analysis method.
The first step towards that goal was the creation of the model parts in the Abaqus/SolidWorks environments. Starting with the stent geometry, a literature-based design was chosen, with the balloon and the two artery layers having a hollow cylinder shape. Additionally, three plaque designs were created to simulate the different artery stenosis percentages. Following the creation of each model part, their respective materials and Finite Element meshes were added. Afterwards, the different parts were put together to form four models with different artery stenosis. To complete these models, the interactions between parts, the boundary conditions, and the external load were added.
After tracking the types of failure observed in the simulations, the displacement at the points of failure were found for all the models. Afterwards, based on the displacements mentioned before, the balloon pressure at each point of failure was calculated. This calculation was important because the balloon pressure is widely used by physicians during the angioplasty procedure. The results show that no plaque failure occurs during the procedure and that artery failure always precedes stent failure. Furthermore, an inverse relation was noticed between the artery stenosis and the pressure at the artery failure point. Finally, some areas for further research are mentioned, such as the creation of more realistic models and the focus on the artery fatigue.
Description
Keywords
Angioplasty, Stent, Finite elements, Artery failure