Fluid-structure interactions of peripheral arteries using a coupled in silico and in vitro approach

Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 165, pp. 107474

Abstract

Vascular compliance is considered both a cause and a consequence of cardiovascular disease and a significant factor in the mid- and long-term patency of vascular grafts. However, the biomechanical effects of localised changes in compliance cannot be satisfactorily studied with the available medical imaging technologies or surgical simulation materials. To address this unmet need, we developed a coupled silico-vitro platform which allows for the validation of numerical fluid-structure interaction results as a numerical model and physical prototype. This numerical one-way and two-way fluid-structure interaction study is based on a three-dimensional computer model of an idealised femoral artery which is validated against patient measurements derived from the literature. The numerical results are then compared with experimental values collected from compliant arterial phantoms via direct pressurisation and ring tensile testing. Phantoms within a compliance range of 1.4-68.0%/100 mmHg were fabricated via additive manufacturing and silicone casting, then mechanically characterised via ring tensile testing and optical analysis under direct pressurisation with moderately statistically significant differences in measured compliance ranging between 10 and 20% for the two methods. One-way fluid-structure interaction coupling underestimated arterial wall compliance by up to 14.7% compared with two-way coupled models. Overall, Solaris™ (Smooth-On) matched the compliance range of the numerical and in vivo patient models most closely out of the tested silicone materials. Our approach is promising for vascular applications where mechanical compliance is especially important, such as the study of diseases which commonly affect arterial wall stiffness, such as atherosclerosis, and the model-based design, surgical training, and optimisation of vascular prostheses.

Authors 5

1. Sabrina Schoenborn

   The University of Queensland · Queensland University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   BioMimetic Systems Engineering (BMSE) Lab, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia; Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology (BTM) Group, Faculty of Engineering, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia

   BioMimetic Systems Engineering (BMSE) Lab, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

   Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology (BTM) Group, Faculty of Engineering, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia

2. David Frederick Fletcher

   The University of Sydney

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, 2006, Australia

3. Maria Ann Woodruff

   Queensland University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology (BTM) Group, Faculty of Engineering, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia

4. Selene Pirola

   Imperial College London · Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   BHF Centre of Research Excellence, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; Department of Biomechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (3me), Delft University of Technology (TUD), Delft, the Netherlands

   BHF Centre of Research Excellence, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

   Department of Biomechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (3me), Delft University of Technology (TUD), Delft, the Netherlands

5. Mark C. Allenby corresponding

   The University of Queensland · Queensland University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   BioMimetic Systems Engineering (BMSE) Lab, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia; Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology (BTM) Group, Faculty of Engineering, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia. Electronic address: m.allenby@uq.edu.au

   BioMimetic Systems Engineering (BMSE) Lab, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland (UQ), St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

   Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology (BTM) Group, Faculty of Engineering, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia