Effect of Intraluminal Thrombus Burden on the Risk of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Rupture

Abstract

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a critical health disorder, where the abdominal aorta dilates more than 50% of its normal diameter. Enlargement in abdominal aorta alters the hemodynamics and flow-induced forces on the AAA wall. Depending on the flow conditions, the hemodynamic forces on the wall may result in excessive mechanical stresses that lead to AAA rupture. The risk of rupture can be predicted using advanced computational techniques such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and fluid–structure interaction (FSI). For a reliable rupture risk assessment, formation of intraluminal thrombus (ILT) and uncertainty in arterial material properties should be taken into account, mainly due to the patient-specific differences and unknowns in AAAs. In this study, AAA models are computationally investigated by performing CFD simulations combined with FSI analysis. Various levels of ILT burdens are artificially generated in a realistic AAA geometry, and the peak effective stresses are evaluated to elucidate the effect of material models and ILT formation. The results indicate that increasing the ILT burden leads to lowered effective stresses on the AAA wall. The material properties of the artery and ILT are also effective on the stresses; however, these effects are limited compared to the effect of ILT volume in the AAA sac.