title: Modelling evolution and the evolving mechanical environment of saccular cerebral aneurysms.
abstract: A fluid-solid-growth (FSG) model of saccular cerebral aneurysm evolution is developed. It utilises a realistic two-layered structural model of the internal carotid artery and explicitly accounts for the degradation of the elastinous constituents and growth and remodelling (G&R) of the collagen fabric. Aneurysm inception is prescribed: a localised degradation of elastin results in a perturbation in the arterial geometry; the collagen fabric adapts, and the artery achieves a new homeostatic configuration. The perturbation to the geometry creates an altered haemodynamic environment. Subsequent degradation of elastin is explicitly linked to low wall shear stress (WSS) in a confined region of the arterial domain. A sidewall saccular aneurysm develops, the collagen fabric adapts and the aneurysm stabilises in size. A quasi-static analysis is performed to determine the geometry at diastolic pressure. This enables the cyclic stretching of the tissue to be quantified, and we propose a novel index to quantify the degree of biaxial stretching of the tissue. Whilst growth is linked to low WSS from a steady (systolic) flow analysis, a pulsatile flow analysis is performed to compare steady and pulsatile flow parameters during evolution. This model illustrates the evolving mechanical environment for an idealised saccular cerebral aneurysm developing on a cylindrical parent artery and provides the guidance to more sophisticated FSG models of aneurysm evolution which link G&R to the local mechanical stimuli of vascular cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Paul.Watton@eng.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Watton
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Selimovic
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Raberger
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Holzapfel
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ventikos
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003094:Collagen / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D004549:Elastin / Q000502:physiology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D018056:Hemorheology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D008959:Models, Neurological; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D004549:Elastin