Computational Model of Carotid Artery Injury
A carotid artery dissection begins as a tear or defect of the intimal lining of the artery, and can lead to luminal occlusion and ultimately cerebral ischemia. While rare, blunt cerebrovascular injury is associated with elevated morbidity and mortality. The carotid artery is particularly vulnerable to such injuries because of its lateral placement relative to the cervical vertebrae. WFU-CIB’s research focuses on tissue, organ and regional level validation of a finite element model of the carotid artery. Organ level model developed focused on using experimental data recorded by industry collaborators. A 2.4-kg beveled guillotine is dropped from three heights (0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 m) onto fluid-filled carotid arteries and resulting damage is coded.
These events are modeled using finite element analysis. Such analyses are necessary to determine the stress and strain within an organ during loading. Stress, strain and strain rate are correlated to experimental outcome. Internal layer damage is reported in half of the experiments, with damage occurring with 100% frequency at a drop height of 0.7 m. Simulations of this experiment result in maximum principal stress and strain values of 1.43 MPa and 46.2% respectively. The strain level predicted by the model for this impact scenario approaches the strain to intimal failure level for porcine arteries found in the literature.
The results of this study represent an important step in validating this finite element carotid artery model at the organ level. Future research efforts will focus on the development of a more regionally based model for the prediction of this serious injury.
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Above (A) Still of experimental setup showing foam surrounding impinged artery. (B) Still from the finite element simulation occurring at the same moment. (C) Detail of strain values experienced by the artery. |
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Above Future modeling efforts are centered on developing and validating a regional model of the neck for improved countermeasure design |