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Micromechanical Characterization of Intra-luminal Thrombus Tissue from Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

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Abstract

The reliable assessment of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm rupture risk is critically important in reducing related mortality without unnecessarily increasing the rate of elective repair. Intra-luminal thrombus (ILT) has multiple biomechanical and biochemical impacts on the underlying aneurysm wall and thrombus failure might be linked to aneurysm rupture. Histological slices from 7 ILTs were analyzed using a sequence of automatic image processing and feature analyzing steps. Derived microstructural data was used to define Representative Volume Elements (RVE), which in turn allowed the estimation of microscopic material properties using the non-linear Finite Element Method. ILT tissue exhibited complex microstructural arrangement with larger pores in the abluminal layer than in the luminal layer. The microstructure was isotropic in the abluminal layer, whereas pores started to orient along the circumferential direction towards the luminal site. ILT’s macroscopic (reversible) deformability was supported by large pores in the microstructure and the inhomogeneous structure explains in part the radially changing macroscopic constitutive properties of ILT. Its microscopic properties decreased just slightly from the luminal to the abluminal layer. The present study provided novel microstructural and micromechanical data of ILT tissue, which is critically important to further explore the role of the ILT in aneurysm rupture. Data provided in this study allow an integration of structural information from medical imaging for example, to estimate ILT’s macroscopic mechanical properties.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sebastian Günther for his contributions regarding image processing and Jacopo Biasetti for his valuable comments about Matlab R2007a (TheMathworks). This work has been supported by the Young Faculty Grant No. 2006-7568 provided by the Swedish Research Council, VINNOVA and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, and the EC Seventh Framework Programme, Fighting Aneurysmal Disease (FAD-200647), which is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Solid Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Osquars backe 1, SE-100 44, Stockholm, Sweden

    T. Christian Gasser & Giampaolo Martufi

  2. VASCOPS GmbH, SciencePark Graz, Plüddemanngasse 39, A-8010, Graz, Austria

    Martin Auer

  3. Department of Vascular Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital and Institute, Surgery N1:06, Karolinska University Hospital, 17176, Stockholm, Sweden

    Maggie Folkesson & Jesper Swedenborg

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  1. T. Christian Gasser
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  2. Giampaolo Martufi
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Correspondence to T. Christian Gasser.

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Gasser, T.C., Martufi, G., Auer, M. et al. Micromechanical Characterization of Intra-luminal Thrombus Tissue from Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. Ann Biomed Eng 38, 371–379 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-009-9837-4

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