Cardiovascular Biomechanics
Hadi Taghizadeh; Faezeh Amini
Volume 16, Issue 1 , May 2022, , Pages 11-21
Abstract
Atherosclerosis, a common cardiovascular disease, is among the leading causes of death. Many of the heart attacks results from ruptured atherosclerotic lesion and emboli formation. Then, the susceptibility of the lesion is a key factor in preventing negative outcomes of the rupture. Mechanisms of plaque ...
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Atherosclerosis, a common cardiovascular disease, is among the leading causes of death. Many of the heart attacks results from ruptured atherosclerotic lesion and emboli formation. Then, the susceptibility of the lesion is a key factor in preventing negative outcomes of the rupture. Mechanisms of plaque rupture are under debate. However, a general agreement on the bold contribution of hemodynamic factors including the blood pressure is established. In the current study, biomechanical impacts of plaque calcification procedure and the changed thickness of fibrous cap were investigated. To do so, a cross-section of the constricted coronary artery is reconstructed from the histological images and extruded in the axial direction of the artery to produce the three dimensional configuration of the coronary model. Holzapfel strain energy density function is utilized for mechanical description of the arterial tissue and the fibrous cap which enables us to adopt collagen fiber orientation into the mechanical model. Furthermore, since the constricted vessel configuration is asymmetrical, instead of simplified cylindrical coordinates for collagen orientation, a discrete coordinate system is assigned to every element and respective circumferential, axial and radial directions were assigned. With calcification, plaque is more stable and produces monotonic stress patterns in its vicinity. Also, the fibrous cap thickness plays an important role as a barrier to inhibit stress concentration from soft lipid core and disturb the mechanical loads to the neighboring regions. These two parameters, provide useful insight on mechanical load distribution around an atherosclerotic lesion and the pathway of arterial tissue toward a new homeostasis.
Cardiovascular Biomechanics
Sara Barati; Nasser Fatouraee; Malikeh Nabaei
Volume 15, Issue 4 , March 2022, , Pages 355-366
Abstract
Transcatheter aortic valves have become the standard procedure for high-risk patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. This minimally invasive procedure can expand to a wider range of patients with a lower risk of surgery. The complications after the implantation and the structural malfunction of these ...
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Transcatheter aortic valves have become the standard procedure for high-risk patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. This minimally invasive procedure can expand to a wider range of patients with a lower risk of surgery. The complications after the implantation and the structural malfunction of these prostheses are the obstacles of this transition. Design optimization of the stents of these prostheses can improve their performance and reduce the post-operative complications associated with them. Since all prostheses are crimped before implantation, the designs should guarantee an acceptable structural performance after expansion, especially self-expandable stents for which the fatigue behavior strongly depends on the strain. This study applies a simple, cost-effective optimization framework to optimize the geometric parameters of these stents regarding the maximum strain during the crimping process. The design parameters include diameter profile, cell size, number of repeating components, and strut cross-section. The simplified models are evaluated and verified by the 3D simulations. The results show that the middle cells' height, number of cells, and strut width have the most prominent effect on the maximum crimping strain of the stent. The maximum strain of the optimized stent in the selected design space was 0.52. This stent had a width of 0.2 mm, thickness of 0.3 mm, the number of cells and patterns of 3 and 15, respectively, and the diameter profile associated with the diameter ratio of 1.05. This framework can be applied to a wide range of stent designs and tremendously reduce the cost of stent design and optimization.
Bioheat Transfer
Farshad Bahramian; Afsaneh Mojra
Volume 10, Issue 3 , October 2016, , Pages 245-256
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the use of thermography technique for detection of thyroid gland embedded in the neck through a numerical and an experimental approach. To this end, a real 3D model of the human neck and its primary organs including trachea, thyroid gland, common carotid artery ...
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The aim of this study is to investigate the use of thermography technique for detection of thyroid gland embedded in the neck through a numerical and an experimental approach. To this end, a real 3D model of the human neck and its primary organs including trachea, thyroid gland, common carotid artery and internal jugular vein is constructed based on the computerized tomography (CT) scan images of a healthy case and a case of thyroid cancer. The model is used for analyzing bio-heat transfer in the neck. In the thermal analysis the thyroid gland is considered as a heat source via specific function that generates heat based on the thyroid temporal temperature. Moreover, external convection through the neck skin surface and the ambient air, an internal convection through the inner layer of trachea and breathed air and heat transfer through the artery and the vein are considered. The result is the temperature distribution (thermogram) on the skin surface of the neck which reveals an approximate 0.5 -1.4 ˚C temperature increase on the area above thyroid gland for the healthy case. Studying effects of the thyroid cancer on the thermogram shows an approximate 0.7 -1.6 ˚C temperature increase due to the increased metabolic rate of the cancerous tumor compared to the healthy tissue. In order to practically investigate the applicability of thermography technique, a healthy case is examined by a high precision thermographic camera in similar conditions to the numerical simulation. Similar temperature increase due to the existence of the thyroid gland by the simulation and experiment affirmed the capability of the thermography method in the thyroid gland detection on the skin surface of the neck.
Orthotics & Prosthesis
Marjan Bahraminasab
Volume 10, Issue 1 , May 2016, , Pages 25-40
Abstract
Knee implants still lacks sufficient design solutions to ensure improved long term performance without aseptic loosening and the subsequent revision surgery.The present paper, used full factorial design of experiment (DOE) method along with finite element analysis (FEA) to assess the influence of internal ...
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Knee implants still lacks sufficient design solutions to ensure improved long term performance without aseptic loosening and the subsequent revision surgery.The present paper, used full factorial design of experiment (DOE) method along with finite element analysis (FEA) to assess the influence of internal contours of femoral component on mechanical stability of the prosthesis, and the biomechanical stresses experienced by the femoral component, bone cement and the adjoining bone with preservation of the external contours.The WASPAS approach, as a multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique, was then used to rank the alternative designs. The results of analysis of variance showed that the internal shape of femoral component contours influenced the performance measureswhere the angle between the distal and anterior cuts, the angle between the distal and posterior cuts, and the cement thickness were highlysignificant. The predictive mathematical models of each performance measureswre also estimated through statistical analysis. The ranking order and the following sensitivity analysis revealed that the top designs mostly had higher cement thickness and the original design was not the top choice for femoral component which by improving the current designbetter long term performance can be achieved.
Biomechanics of Bone / Bone Biomechanics
Mohammad Nikkhoo; Ali Tahassori; Mohammad Haghpanahi
Volume 8, Issue 3 , September 2014, , Pages 203-212
Abstract
To develop the advanced technologies in medical device industry, design and manufacturing of cervical cage was performed in Iran for the first time. This research-based industrial project should be accomplished based on precise biomechanical studies and mechanical tests. Hence, this study presents the ...
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To develop the advanced technologies in medical device industry, design and manufacturing of cervical cage was performed in Iran for the first time. This research-based industrial project should be accomplished based on precise biomechanical studies and mechanical tests. Hence, this study presents the optimization and biomechanical functional investigations of the first Iranian cervical cage (Manufactured by Attila Ortopaed Co.). For this purpose the intact cervical spine (C2-C7) was developed and was validated with in-vitro experiments. Three inputs (i.e. geometrical parameters of the cage) and two outputs (i.e. deformation of the teeth in static and dynamic tests) parameters were selected for optimization procedure. Furthermore, the surgery in C5-C6 level was simulated by implanting the cervical cage. Finally, the biomechanical responses were investigated. The result confirmed that the biomechanical response of cervical cage is within the standard range and can be used well in clinics for surgical procedures.
Biomechanics of Bone / Bone Biomechanics
Mohammad Haghpanahi; Ali Gorginzadeh; Saba Sohrabi
Volume 1, Issue 2 , June 2007, , Pages 131-136
Abstract
Considering the life threatening consequences of the cervical spine injuries, the study of its biomechanical behavior has become important. The most common axis (second cervical vertebra) injury is called odontoid fracture, the majority of which is type II or dens fracture. In this study, an exact 3D ...
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Considering the life threatening consequences of the cervical spine injuries, the study of its biomechanical behavior has become important. The most common axis (second cervical vertebra) injury is called odontoid fracture, the majority of which is type II or dens fracture. In this study, an exact 3D finite element model of axis was developed and analyzed. To evaluate the stress distributions in the odontoid process during type II injuries, pressure loads were applied on the dens at locations where it is likely to come into contact with the surrounding neck construct. Results indicate stress concentration in the odontoid junction with the vertebral body, which suggests that there is a possibility of occurring type II fracture in the case of impaction of odontoid with atlas anterior arch, lateral masses and transverse ligament.
