title: Is aortic wall shear stress affected by aging? An image-based numerical study with two age groups.
abstract: The size of the larger arteries increases during the entire life, but not much is known about how the change in size affects the blood flow. This study compares the flow field in a group of young males (N = 10, age = 23.5 ± 1.4), with a group of older males (N = 8, age = 58.0 ± 2.8). Aortic geometries were obtained by magnetic resonance imaging, and the aortic blood flow field was computed using computational fluid dynamics. The aortic wall shear stress was obtained from the computations, and it was concluded that time-averaged wall shear stress decreased with increased age, probably as a consequence of increased aortic diameter and decreased stroke volume, which in turn reduces the shear rates in the aorta. However, the oscillatory shear index, which is a measure of the oscillatory nature of the wall shear stress vector, seemed to be unaffected by aging.
authors: Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden; Swedish e-Science Research Centre (SeRC), Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: jonas.lantz@liu.se.
authors: Jonas
authors: J
authors: Lantz
authors: Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Johan
authors: J
authors: Renner
authors: Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Toste
authors: T
authors: Länne
authors: Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Matts
authors: M
authors: Karlsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033081:Shear Strength; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Aorta; Computational fluid dynamics; Magnetic resonance imaging; Oscillatory shear index; Wall shear stress