Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 8.31
Computer model-
ling of plaque models based
on different configuration
of lipid pool and calcifica-
tion agglomerate at 70 %
stenosis. (
a
) plaque with no
lipid pool (
70 % stenosis
),
N
= 12,928 plane-strain
elements. (
b
) plaque with
constant lipid pool (
of thick-
ness 0�35 mm
),
N
= 12,712
elements (
c
) plaque with
constant lipid pool and
calcification agglomerate
(
d
cg
= 0�175 mm
),
N
= 12,123
elements
and calcification gap. A validation case was also performed against research study
by Loree et al.(1992) based on idealised atherosclerotic plaque configuration using
planar stress analysis.
Figure
8.32
presents the effect of fibrous cap thickness on peak circumferential
stress for cases with constant lipid, fibrous cap thickness reduces with decreasing
stenosis. When there is a constant lipid inside the plaque, the level of stress tends to
be strongly influenced by the thickness of fibrous cap. We deduce that since the fi-
brous cap thickness correlates to plaque stability, it is an important parameter when
determining plaque vulnerability.
8.5.2
Boundary Conditions and Material Properties
To analyze the structure of the plaque components, a simulation is performed in-
volving mechanical property variations due to changes in the lipid core and its
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