Multiscale Modeling in Vascular Disease and Tissue Engineering - Multiscale Computer Modeling in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering - page 237

Multiscale Modeling in Vascular Disease
and Tissue Engineering

Houman Zahedmanesh and Caitríona Lally

Abstract The human body, and hence the vascular system, is by its very nature a
dynamic multiscale hierarchial system. This multiscale nature encompasses
different length scales, from molecular and cellular levels to the tissue and organ
level, as well as different physical phenomena, such as mechanical, biological and
chemical processes. In arteries, vascular cells alter their growth, phenotype and
extracellular matrix production in response to macro mechanical changes. These
cell level events can in turn accumulate and emerge at the tissue level as
pathological conditions such as atherosclerosis and intimal hyperplasia. These
cardiovascular diseases evolve through adaptation of cells and tissues over days to
months also demonstrating the multiscale nature of vascular diseases with respect
to time. The challenge in vascular multiscale modelling is to create a framework
which can incorporate the key mechanical, biological and chemical characteristics
of this complex system at these various space and time scales to successfully
capture the long-term behaviour of the system. Such a framework can then be used
to gain additional insights with regards to pathological conditions within the
vascular system and to improve the design of medical devices used to treat such
pathologies. In the following chapter, a review will be presented of some relevant
studies reported in literature which have used multiscale modelling approaches to
elucidate the growth and remodelling mechanisms underlying vascular diseases,
such as atherosclerosis, in-stent restenosis and intimal hyperplasia.

H. Zahedmanesh C. Lally ( )

School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland
e-mail: [e-mail]

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