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In order to analyze the mechanical properties of a new type of retrievable vena cava filter, the Denali and Aeginsy retrievable filters are selected, and the in vivo and in vitro mechanical properties of the three types of retrievable vena cava filters are compared. The nonlinear deformation process of the filter which is pressed into the transport sheath, flicked and released into the vascular vessel is simulated by using the finite element method, and the mechanical behaviors of the filter and the blood vessel wall are analyzed. During the crimping process, the elastic strain peak value of the filter wall increases with increasing amount of grip. The maximum elastic strain peak value of the three filters is less than 8%, and the safety factor is greater than 2, which meets the strength requirement. Equivalent stress and strain on the vascular wall decreases along the direction of blood flow after the filter is opened. The peak value of equivalent stress and strain on the vascular wall corresponding to Aegisy filter is the largest, and the impact on the vascular wall is the largest. The total displacement of the three filters under the action of thrombus and blood fluids is not more than 80 μ m. The impact of the new filter on the vascular wall is smaller than that of Aegisy filter, and the total displacement after implantation is smaller than that of Denali filter. The results are valuable for the evaluation and clinical application of the new vena cava filter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three dimensional blood flow in compliant, tapering vessels of a truncated vascular system model containing two levels of bifurcation was investigated numerically using a commercially available finite element analysis and simulation software. Although the branching pattern and the geometry of the human vascular system are complex, they can be specified for small arteries using Murray's hypothesis that the structure of the vascular system obeys the principle of minimum work. Accordingly, in the current vascular system model, the parent/daughter diameter ratios and the angles of bifurcation were specified according to Murray's law. Another geometrical parameter, the ratio of blood vessel length to diameter, was determined according to data found in the literature. The vascular system model also includes a 5 mm thick layer of tissue surrounding the vessels. This tissue layer helps to resist artery deformation during the cardiac cycle. Experimentally measured time dependent blood velocity data, available in the literature, were used as the inlet boundary condition to represent the cardiac cycle. An outflow boundary model, consisting of an elastic tube followed by a contraction tube, was used at the four outlets to represent both the compliance and the pressure drop of the small arteries, arterioles, and capillaries that would follow the truncated vascular system. The results show that, at each bifurcation, the blood flow velocity decreases significantly in the transition from the parent vessel to the daughter vessels due to the higher total cross-sectional area of the daughter vessels as compared to the parent vessel. This decrease in velocity is partially recovered along the arteries due to the tapering of the blood vessels. It can also be observed from the results that the pressure distributions and pressure drops along the vascular system are in good agreement with the physiological data found in the literature. The results also show that the velocity profiles immediately following a bifurcation are not initially symmetric, with their maxima shifted toward the inner part of the bifurcation in the daughter vessels. Finally, the results show that the maximum deformation is about 2% of the average vessel radius, which is relatively small and typical for small arteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulations of blood flows in arteries require numerical solutions of fluidstructure interactions involving Navier-Stokes equations coupled with large displacement visco-elasticity for the vessels. Among the various simplifications which have been proposed, the surface pressure model leads to a hierarchy of simpler models including one that involves only the pressure. The model exhibits fundamental frequencies which can be computed and compared with the pulse. Yet unconditionally stable time discretizations can be constructed by combining implicit time schemes with Galerkin-characteristic discretization of the convection terms in the Navier-Stokes equations. Such problems with prescribed pressure on the walls will be shown to be efficient and accurate as an approximation of the full fluid structure interaction problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a stabilized mixed finite element method for shear-rate dependent fluids. The nonlinear viscosity field is a function of the shear-rate and varies uniformly in space and in time. The stabilized form is developed via application of Variational Multiscale (VMS) framework to the underlying generalized Navier-Stokes equation. Linear and quadratic tetrahedral and hexahedral elements are employed with equal-order interpolations for the velocity and pressure fields. A variety of benchmark problems are solved to assess the stability and accuracy properties of the resulting method. The method is then applied to non-Newtonian shear-rate dependent flows in bifurcating artery geometry, and significant non-Newtonian fluid effects are observed. A comparative study of the proposed method shows that the additional computational costs due to the nonlinear shear-rate dependent viscosity are only ten percent more than the computational cost for a Newtonian model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is dedicated to present a comprehensive investigation on the thermal effects of large blood vessels of human knee joint during topical cooling and fomentation treatment. A three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis by taking full use of the anatomical CAD model of human knee joint was developed to accurately simulate the treatment process. Based on the classical Pennes bio-heat transfer equation, the time evolution of knee joint's temperature distribution and heat flux from large blood vessels was obtained. In addition, we compared several influencing factors and obtained some key conclusions which cannot be easily acquired through clinical experiments. The results indicated that the thermal effects of large blood vessels could remarkably affect the temperature distribution of knee joint during treatment process. Fluctuations of blood flow velocity and metabolic heat production rate affect little on the thermal effects of large blood vessels. Changing the temperature of blood and regimes of treatment could effectively regulate this phenomenon, which is important for many physiological activities. These results provide a guideline to the basic and applied research for the thermally significant large blood vessels in the knee organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY A coupled computational model of the foot consisting of a three-dimensional soft tissue continuum and a one-dimensional (1D) transient blood flow network is presented in this article. The primary aim of the model is to investigate the blood flow in major arteries of the pathologic foot where the soft tissue stiffening occurs. It has been reported in the literature that there could be up to about five-fold increase in the mechanical stiffness of the plantar soft tissues in pathologic (e.g. diabetic) feet compared with healthy ones. The increased stiffness results in higher tissue hydrostatic pressure within the plantar area of the foot when loaded. The hydrostatic pressure acts on the external surface of blood vessels and tend to reduce the flow cross-section area and hence the blood supply. The soft tissue continuum model of the foot was modelled as a tricubic Hermite finite element mesh representing all the muscles, skin and fat of the foot and treated as incompressible with transversely isotropic properties. The details of the mechanical model of soft tissue are presented in the companion paper, Part 1. The deformed state of the soft tissue continuum because of the applied ground reaction force at three foot positions (heel-strike, midstance and toe-off) was obtained by solving the Cauchy equations based on the theory of finite elasticity using the Galerkin finite element method. The geometry of the main arterial network in the foot was represented using a 1D Hermite cubic finite element mesh. The flow model consists of 1D Navier-Stokes equations and a nonlinear constitutive equation to describe vessel radius-transmural pressure relation. The latter was defined as the difference between the fluid and soft tissue hydrostatic pressure. Transient flow governing equations were numerically solved using the two-step Lax-Wendroff finite difference method. The geometry of both the soft tissue continuum and arterial network is anatomically-based and was developed using the data derived from visible human images and magnetic resonance images of a healthy male volunteer. Simulation results reveal that a two-fold increase in tissue stiffness leads to about 28% reduction in blood flow to the affected region.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulation divergence due to backflow is a common, but not fully addressed, problem in three-dimensional simulations of blood flow in the large vessels. Because backflow is a naturally occurring physiologic phenomenon, careful treatment is necessary to realistically model backflow without artificially altering the local flow dynamics. In this study, we quantitatively compare three available methods for treatment of outlets to prevent backflow divergence in finite element Navier-Stokes solvers. The methods examined are (1) adding a stabilization term to the boundary nodes formulation, (2) constraining the velocity to be normal to the outlet, and (3) using Lagrange multipliers to constrain the velocity profile at all or some of the outlets. A modification to the stabilization method is also discussed. Three model problems, a short and long cylinder with an expansion, a right-angle bend, and a patient-specific aorta model, are used to evaluate and quantitatively compare these methods. Detailed comparisons are made to evaluate robustness, stability characteristics, impact on local and global flow physics, computational cost, implementation effort, and ease-of-use. The results show that the stabilization method offers a promising alternative to previous methods, with reduced effect on both local and global hemodynamics, improved stability, little-to-no increase in computational cost, and elimination of the need for tunable parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effect of large blood vessels on the temperature field in invasive microwave ablation, a finite element method was applied based on the convective-type boundary condition on the interface between tissues and blood flow. Whether a large blood vessel is outside of or involved in the lesion area will affect the 54°C effective therapeutic area in different critical conditions. This paper drew the function diagraph on the distance between blood vessel and antenna with the diameter of the blood vessel and put forward the concept of effective therapy radius. It can be used to study the influence of large vessels on the external boundary of the coagulation area and can be used as a theoretical basis to help to decide whether to occlude the large vessels before microwave ablation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexities in the flow pattern in a cavo-pulmonary vascular system—after application of the Fontan procedure in the vicinity of the superior vena cava, inferior vena cava, and the confluence at the T-junction—are analysed. A characteristic-based split (CBS) finite element scheme involving the artificial compressibility approach is employed to compute the resulting flow. Benchmarking of the CBS scheme is carried out using standard problems and with the flow features observed in an experimental model with the help of a dye visualization technique in model scale. The transient flow variations in a total cavo-pulmonary connection (TCPC) under pulsatile conditions are investigated and compared with flow visualization studies. In addition to such qualitative flow investigations, quantitative analysis of energy loss and haemodynamic stresses have also been performed. The comparisons show good agreement between the numerical and experimental flow patterns. The numerically predicted shear stress values indicate that the pulsatile flow condition is likely to be more severe than steady flow, with regard to the long-term health of the surgically corrected TCPC. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cardiovascular stents are small cylindrical devices introduced in stenosed arteries to reopen the lumen and restore blood flow. However, this treatment presents complications, including restenosis, which is the reclosing of the artery''s diameter after the insertion of a stent. The structure of the prosthesis penetrates into and injures the walls of the patient''s artery. There then follows a proliferation of cells and the formation of scar tissue around the injury, similar to the scarring of other organic tissues. This reaction to the trauma subjects the artery to close. The proposed solution is to develop a Nitinol stent with a progressive expansion device made of polyethylene, allowing smooth and gradual contact between the stent and the artery''s wall by creep effect. The purpose of this paper is to describe the technology and methodology for the numerical study of this kind of stent through the finite element method. ANSYS 8.0 software is used to perform the analysis. The Nitinol is modeled with a superelastic law and the polyethylene with a yield hardening law. A first simulation determines the final geometry of the stent laser cut from a small tube. A second simulation examines the behavior of the prosthesis during surgery and over the 4 weeks following the operation. The results demonstrate that a compromise can be reached between a limited expansion prior the inflation of the expandable balloon and a significant expansion by creep of the polymer rings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two arterial switch operations (ASO) designed for transposition of great arteries with ventricular septal defect are numerically assessed. To prove that the SRGA (spiral relationship of the normally related great arteries) arterial switch operation (ASO) is hemodynamically superior to that of the Lecompte procedure, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes simulations were carried out in the resulting two different vessels. In the mixed tri-quadratic finite element formulation, the streamline upwind model developed on the sup–inf-satisfying elements is employed to enhance convective stability. For the sake of accuracy, the degree of upwinding needed to enhance stability is analytically derived on the one-dimensional basis. For quantitative assessment of the two investigated operations, we calculate the pressure on the vessel surface and the wall shear stress from the simulated velocities. It is found that SRGA surgery is accompanied with lower pressure and higher shear stress, in comparison with those obtained from the Lecompte operation. Additionally, SRGA surgery results in much smaller areas of high pressure and low shear stress. Evidence is also given to show that the SRGA manoeuvre is less susceptible to stenosis. We also show that SRGA is the operation of choice for the ASO from the energy point of view since this anatomy is associated with smaller total energy loss coefficient and hydraulic dissipated power index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we address the problem of blood flow simulation in realistic vascular objects. The anatomical surfaces are extracted by means of Level-Sets methods that accurately model the complex and varying surfaces of pathological objects such as aneurysms and stenoses. The surfaces obtained are defined at the sub-pixel level where they intersect the Cartesian grid of the image domain. It is therefore straightforward to construct embedded boundary representations of these objects on the same grid, for which recent work has enabled discretization of the Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible fluids. While most classical techniques require construction of a structured mesh that approximates the surface in order to extrapolate a 3D finite-element gridding of the whole volume, our method directly simulates the blood flow inside the extracted surface without losing any complicated details and without building additional grids. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tortuous vessels are often observed in vivo and could hinder or even disrupt blood flow to distal organs. Besides genetic and biological factors, the in vivo mechanical loading seems to play a role in the formation of tortuous vessels, but the mechanism for formation of helical vessel shape remains unclear. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the biomechanical loads that trigger the occurrence of helical buckling in blood vessels using finite element analysis. Porcine carotid arteries were modeled as thick‐walled cylindrical tubes using generalized Fung and Holzapfel‐Gasser‐Ogden constitutive models. Physiological loadings, including axial tension, lumen pressure, and axial torque, were applied. Simulations of various geometric dimensions, different constitutive models and at various levels of axial stretch ratios, lumen pressures, and twist angles were performed to identify the mechanical factors that determine the helical stability. Our results demonstrated that axial torsion can cause wringing (twist buckling) that leads to kinking or helical coiling and even looping and winding. The specific buckling patterns depend on the combination of lumen pressure, axial torque, axial tension, and the dimensions of the vessels. This study elucidates the mechanism of how blood vessels buckle under various mechanical loads and how complex mechanical loads yield helical buckling. The novelties of this research article include the following: Illustrated that mechanical loadings such as lumen pressure, axial tension, and axial torque could lead to the formation of tortuous vessels (curving, wringing, kinking, helical coiling, looping, and winding).Determined the biomechanical loads that trigger helical buckling in blood vessels.Compared the effect of different constitutive models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon injury to a blood vessel, flowing platelets will aggregate at the injury site, forming a plug to prevent blood loss. Through a complex system of biochemical reactions, a stabilizing mesh forms around the platelet aggregate forming a blood clot that further seals the injury. Computational models of clot formation have been developed to a study intravascular thrombosis, where a vessel injury does not cause blood leakage outside the blood vessel but blocks blood flow. To model scenarios in which blood leaks from a main vessel out into the extravascular space, new computational tools need to be developed to handle the complex geometries that represent the injury. We have previously modeled intravascular clot formation under flow using a continuum approach wherein the transport of platelet densities into some spatial location is limited by the platelet fraction that already reside in that location, i.e., the densities satisfy a maximum packing constraint through the use of a hindered transport coefficient. To extend this notion to extravascular injury geometries, we have modified a finite element method flux‐corrected transport (FEM‐FCT) scheme by prelimiting antidiffusive nodal fluxes. We show that our modified scheme, under a variety of test problems, including mesh refinement, structured vs unstructured meshes, and for a range of reaction rates, produces numerical results that satisfy a maximum platelet‐density packing constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]