The effect of aortic wall and aortic leaflet stiffening on coronary hemodynamic: a fluid-structure interaction study

Aortic Root Vortex Formation During Left Ventricular Assist Device Support

The vortex that forms in the aortic sinus plays a vital role in optimizing blood flow. Disruption of the vortex can result in flow stagnation and activate thrombus formation in the aortic root, especially when aortic valve flow is reduced as during left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support. Our goal in this study was to visualize vortex formation in an experimental model of the aortic root as flow is progressively reduced. A mock circulatory loop that reproduces heart failure hemodynamics was combined with a HeartMate II LVAD and velocity measured in a transparent aortic root with a bioprosthetic valve. The aortic valve sinus vortices are clearly visible as counter-rotating structures in the velocity field at baseline and for all conditions with flow through the aortic valve. As LVAD speed increases, the central jet narrows but the vortices persist, disappearing only when the valve is completely closed. The vortices preserve fluid momentum and generate shear stress along the tissue surfaces which disrupts flow stasis. These features underscore the importance of maintaining "intermittent" aortic valve opening, as recommended for LVAD patients. This study is the first to report vortex formation in the aortic root during LVAD support, providing a motivation for further evaluation.

The Influence of Aortic Valve Disease on Coronary Hemodynamics: A Computational Model-Based Study

Aortic valve disease (AVD) often coexists with coronary artery disease (CAD), but whether and how the two diseases are correlated remains poorly understood. In this study, a zero-three dimensional (0-3D) multi-scale modeling method was developed to integrate coronary artery hemodynamics, aortic valve dynamics, coronary flow autoregulation mechanism, and systemic hemodynamics into a unique model system, thereby yielding a mathematical tool for quantifying the influences of aortic valve stenosis (AS) and aortic valve regurgitation (AR) on hemodynamics in large coronary arteries. The model was applied to simulate blood flows in six patient-specific left anterior descending coronary arteries (LADs) under various aortic valve conditions (i.e., control (free of AVD), AS, and AR). Obtained results showed that the space-averaged oscillatory shear index (SA-OSI) was significantly higher under the AS condition but lower under the AR condition in comparison with the control condition. Relatively, the overall magnitude of wall shear stress was less affected by AVD. Further data analysis revealed that AS induced the increase in OSI in LADs mainly through its role in augmenting the low-frequency components of coronary flow waveform. These findings imply that AS might increase the risk or progression of CAD by deteriorating the hemodynamic environment in coronary arteries.

Fluid structure interaction modelling of aortic valve stenosis: Effects of valve calcification on coronary artery flow and aortic root hemodynamics

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Coronary artery diseases and aortic valve stenosis are two of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Stenosis of the aortic valve develops due to calcium deposition on the aortic valve leaflets during the cardiac cycle. Clinical investigations have demonstrated that aortic valve stenosis not only affects hemodynamic parameters inside the aortic root but also has a significant influence on the coronary artery hemodynamics and leads to the initiation of coronary artery disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of calcification of the aortic valve on the variation of hemodynamic parameters in the aortic root and coronary arteries in order to find potential locations for initiation of the coronary stenoses.

METHODS

Fluid structure interaction modelling methodology was used to simulate aortic valve hemodynamics in the presence of coronary artery flow. A 2-D model of the aortic valve leaflets was developed in ANSYS Fluent based on the available echocardiography images in literature. The k-ω SST turbulence model was utilised to model the turbulent flow downstream of the leaflets.

RESULTS

The effects of calcification of the aortic valve on aortic root hemodynamics including transvalvular pressure gradient, valve orifice dimeter, vorticity magnitude in the sinuses and wall shear stress on the ventricularis and fibrosa layers of the leaflets were studied. Results revealed that the transvalvular pressure gradient increases from 792 Pa (∼ 6 mmHg) for a healthy aortic valve to 2885 Pa (∼ 22 mmHg) for a severely calcified one. Furthermore, the influence of the calcification of the aortic valve leaflets on the velocity profile and the wall shear stress in the coronary arteries was investigated and used for identification of potential locations of initiation of the coronary stenoses. Obtained results show that the maximum velocity inside the coronary arteries at early diastole decreases from 1 m/s for the healthy valve to 0.45 m/s for the severely calcified case.

CONCLUSIONS

Calcification significantly decreases the wall shear stress of the coronary arteries. This reduction in the wall shear stress can be a main reason for initiation of the coronary atherosclerosis process and eventually results in coronary stenoses.

Evaluation of Supercritical CO2-Assisted Protocols in a Model of Ovine Aortic Root Decellularization

One of the leading trends in the modern tissue engineering is the development of new effective methods of decellularization aimed at the removal of cellular components from a donor tissue, reducing its immunogenicity and the risk of rejection. Supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂)-assisted processing has been proposed to improve the outcome of decellularization, reduce contamination and time costs. The resulting products can serve as personalized tools for tissue-engineering therapy of various somatic pathologies. However, the decellularization of heterogeneous 3D structures, such as the aortic root, requires optimization of the parameters, including preconditioning medium composition, the type of co-solvent, values of pressure and temperature inside the scCO₂ reactor, etc. In our work, using an ovine aortic root model, we performed a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of decellularization approaches based on various combinations of these parameters. The protocols were based on the combinations of treatments in alkaline, ethanol or detergent solutions with scCO₂-assisted processing at different modes. Histological analysis demonstrated favorable effects of the preconditioning in a detergent solution. Following processing in scCO₂ medium provided a high decellularization degree, reduced cytotoxicity, and increased ultimate tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the aortic valve leaflets, while the integrity of the extracellular matrix was preserved.

Flow-Structure Interaction Simulations of the Aortic Heart Valve at Physiologic Conditions: The Role of Tissue Constitutive Model

The blood flow patterns in the region around the aortic valve depend on the geometry of the aorta and on the complex flow-structure interaction between the pulsatile flow and the valve leaflets. Consequently, the flow depends strongly on the constitutive properties of the tissue, which can be expected to vary between healthy and diseased heart valves or native and prosthetic valves. The main goal of this work is to qualitatively demonstrate that the choice of the constitutive model of the aortic valve is critical in analysis of heart hemodynamics. To accomplish that two different constitutive models were used in curvilinear immersed boundary-finite element-fluid-structure interaction (CURVIB-FE-FSI) method developed by Gilmanov et al. (2015, "A Numerical Approach for Simulating Fluid Structure Interaction of Flexible Thin Shells Undergoing Arbitrarily Large Deformations in Complex Domains," J. Comput. Phys., 300, pp. 814-843.) to simulate an aortic valve in an anatomic aorta at physiologic conditions. The two constitutive models are: (1) the Saint-Venant (StV) model and (2) the modified May-Newman&Yin (MNY) model. The MNY model is more general and includes nonlinear, anisotropic effects. It is appropriate to model the behavior of both prosthetic and biological tissue including native valves. Both models are employed to carry out FSI simulations of the same valve in the same aorta anatomy. The computed results reveal dramatic differences in both the vorticity dynamics in the aortic sinus and the wall shear-stress patterns on the aortic valve leaflets and underscore the importance of tissue constitutive models for clinically relevant simulations of aortic valves.

Validation and Extension of a Fluid-Structure Interaction Model of the Healthy Aortic Valve

Purpose

The understanding of the optimum function of the healthy aortic valve is essential in interpreting the effect of pathologies in the region, and in devising effective treatments to restore the physiological functions. Still, there is no consensus on the operating mechanism that regulates the valve opening and closing dynamics. The aim of this study is to develop a numerical model that can support a better comprehension of the valve function and serve as a reference to identify the changes produced by specific pathologies and treatments.

Methods

A numerical model was developed and adapted to accurately replicate the conditions of a previous in vitro investigation into aortic valve dynamics, performed by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV). The resulting velocity fields of the two analyses were qualitatively and quantitatively compared to validate the numerical model. In order to simulate more physiological operating conditions, this was then modified to overcome the main limitations of the experimental setup, such as the presence of a supporting stent and the non-physiological properties of the fluid and vessels.

Results

The velocity fields of the initial model resulted in good agreement with those obtained from the PIV, with similar flow structures and about 90% of the computed velocities after valve opening within the standard deviation of the equivalent velocity measurements of the in vitro model. Once the experimental limitations were removed from the model, the valve opening dynamics changed substantially, with the leaflets opening into the sinuses to a much greater extent, enlarging the effective orifice area by 11%, and reducing greatly the vortical structures previously observed in proximity of the Valsalva sinuses wall.

Conclusions

The study suggests a new operating mechanism for the healthy aortic valve leaflets considerably different from what reported in the literature to date and largely more efficient in terms of hydrodynamic performance. This work also confirms the crucial role that numerical approaches, complemented with experimental findings, can play in overcoming some of the limitations inherent in experimental techniques, supporting the full understanding of complex physiological phenomena.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13239-018-00391-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Aortic expansion induces lumen narrrowing in anomalous coronary arteries: a parametric structural finite element analysis

Anomalous aortic origin of coronary arteries (AAOCA) is a congenital disease that can lead to cardiac ischemia during intense physical activity. Although AAOCA is responsible for sudden cardiac death (SCD) among young athletes and soldiers, the mechanisms underlying the coronary occlusion during physical effort still have to be clarified. The present study investigates the correlation between geometric features of the anomaly and coronary lumen narrowing under aortic root dilatations. Idealized parametric computer-aided designed (CAD) models of the aortic root with anomalous and normal coronary are created and static finite element (FE) simulations of increasing aortic root expansions are carried out. Different coronary take-off angles and intramural penetrations are investigated to assess their role on coronary lumen narrowing. Results show that increasing aortic and coronary pressures lead to lumen expansions in normal coronaries, particularly in the proximal tract, while the expansion of anomalous coronary is impaired especially at the ostium. Concerning the geometric features of the anomaly, acute take-off angles cause elongated coronary ostia, with an eccentricity increasing with aortic expansion; the impact of intramural penetration of coronary on its luminal narrowing is limited. The present study provides a proof of concept of the biomechanical reasons underlying the lumen narrowing in AAOCA during aortic expansion, promoting the role of computational simulations as a tool to assess the mechanisms of this pathology.

Fiber-reinforced computational model of the aortic root incorporating thoracic aorta and coronary structures

Cardiovascular diseases are still the leading causes of death in the developed world. The decline in the mortality associated with circulatory system diseases is accredited to development of new diagnostic and prognostic tools. It is well known that there is an inter relationship between the aortic valve impairment and pathologies of the aorta and coronary vessels. However, due to the limitations of the current tools, the possible link is not fully elucidated. Following our previous model of the aortic root including the coronaries, in this study, we have further developed the global aspect of the model by incorporating the anatomical structure of the thoracic aorta. This model is different from all the previous studies in the sense that inclusion of the coronary structures and thoracic aorta into the natural aortic valve introduces the notion of globality into the model enabling us to explore the possible link between the regional pathologies. The developed model was first validated using the available data in the literature under physiological conditions. Then, to provide a support for the possible association between the localized cardiovascular pathologies and global variations in hemodynamic conditions, we simulated the model for two pathological conditions including moderate and severe aortic valve stenoses. The findings revealed that malformations of the aortic valve are associated with development of low wall shear stress regions and helical blood flow in thoracic aorta that are considered major contributors to aortic pathologies.

3D physiological model of the aortic valve incorporating small coronary arteries

The diseases of the coronary arteries and the aortic root are still the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In this study, a 3D global fluid-structure interaction of the aortic root with inclusion of anatomically inspired small coronary arteries using the finite element method is presented. This innovative model allows to study the impact and interaction of root biomechanics on coronary hemodynamics and brings a new understanding to small coronary vessels hemodynamics. For the first time, the velocity profiles and shear stresses are reported in distal coronary arteries as a result of the aortic flow conditions in a global fluid-structure interaction model.

The impact of the aortic valve impairment on the distant coronary arteries hemodynamics: a fluid-structure interaction study

Atherosclerosis is still the leading cause of death in the developed world. Although its initiation and progression is a complex multifactorial process, it is well known that blood flow-induced wall shear stress (WSS) is an important factor involved in early atherosclerotic plaque initiation. In recent clinical studies, it was established that the regional pathologies of the aortic valve can be involved in the formation of atherosclerotic plaques. However, the impact of hemodynamic effects is not yet fully elucidated for disease initiation and progression. In this study, our developed 3D global fluid-structure interaction model of the aortic root incorporating coronary arteries is used to investigate the possible interaction between coronary arteries and aortic valve pathologies. The coronary hemodynamics was examined and quantified for different degrees of aortic stenosis varying from nonexistent to severe. For the simulated healthy model, the calculated WSS varied between 0.41 and 1.34 Pa which is in the atheroprotective range. However, for moderate and severe aortic stenoses, wide regions of the coronary structures, especially the proximal sections around the first bifurcation, were exposed to lower values of WSS and therefore they were prone to atherosclerosis even in the case of healthy coronary arteries.

Compound Doppler ultrasound signal simulation for pulsatile carotid arteries with a stenosis

BACKGROUND

The simulated Doppler blood flow signals are widely used to assess the performance of the clutter filters for removing wall components while reserving low-velocity signals scattered from physiological blood flow approaching the inner vessel-wall injured by a stenosed lesion.

OBJECTIVE

By simultaneously taking into account the natural attributes of the Doppler equipment, blood flow as well as vessel wall of pulsatile carotid arteries with a stenosis, a computer simulation method is presented to produce the compound Doppler ultrasound blood flow signals.

METHODS

The in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) axial as well as radial blood flow signals are simulated by superposing a series of cosine functions regulated by the spectrograms estimated from the axial and radial velocity profiles firstly obtained through the solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, respectively. Meanwhile, the I/Q Doppler signals echoed from pulsatile near (anterior) and far (posterior) walls are reproduced based on their radial movements during a cardiac cycle. Ultimately, those confirmed quadrature signals are summed to generate the compound Doppler signals including the contribution from both blood flow and stenosed vessel-wall.

RESULTS

The compound Doppler ultrasound signals echoed from both axial and radial blood flows as well as vessel walls with obstruction grades of 0% (normal arteries), 10% and 25% are simulated respectively. The real signals from the left carotid artery with an approximately 10% stenosis degree are also collected for further assessing the believability of simulated versions.

CONCLUSIONS

The simulated and clinical tests demonstrate that the proposed computer simulation method can produce compound Doppler signals with confirmed qualitative and quantitative characteristics resembled with the clinical versions, which could be used as an theoretical data source for evaluating the performance of the signal separation between pulsatile blood flows and vessel walls with mild stenosed-lesions.

Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulation of Prosthetic Aortic Valves: Comparison between Immersed Boundary and Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Techniques for the Mesh Representation

In recent years the role of FSI (fluid-structure interaction) simulations in the analysis of the fluid-mechanics of heart valves is becoming more and more important, being able to capture the interaction between the blood and both the surrounding biological tissues and the valve itself. When setting up an FSI simulation, several choices have to be made to select the most suitable approach for the case of interest: in particular, to simulate flexible leaflet cardiac valves, the type of discretization of the fluid domain is crucial, which can be described with an ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian) or an Eulerian formulation. The majority of the reported 3D heart valve FSI simulations are performed with the Eulerian formulation, allowing for large deformations of the domains without compromising the quality of the fluid grid. Nevertheless, it is known that the ALE-FSI approach guarantees more accurate results at the interface between the solid and the fluid. The goal of this paper is to describe the same aortic valve model in the two cases, comparing the performances of an ALE-based FSI solution and an Eulerian-based FSI approach. After a first simplified 2D case, the aortic geometry was considered in a full 3D set-up. The model was kept as similar as possible in the two settings, to better compare the simulations’ outcomes. Although for the 2D case the differences were unsubstantial, in our experience the performance of a full 3D ALE-FSI simulation was significantly limited by the technical problems and requirements inherent to the ALE formulation, mainly related to the mesh motion and deformation of the fluid domain. As a secondary outcome of this work, it is important to point out that the choice of the solver also influenced the reliability of the final results.