Large caliber blood vessel pseudoaneurysm following prosthetic surgery. Mathematical model and numerical considerations

Abstract

Using a non-Newtonian mathematical model for the blood flow and a generalized Maxwell model for the viscoelastic behavior of the large vessels – elaborated and presented already by us in previous papers [1], [2] we make some remarks on the wall shear stress (WSS) in the case of an artery whose vessel wall is replaced by a vascular prosthesis following a surgical intervention. Considering then a pseudoaneurysm which is located on both genuine blood vessel and prosthesis we analyze the distribution of wall shear stress and taking also into account the viscoplastic behavior of the prosthesis we try to determine the mechanical conditions which would lead to a possible “jerk” (“rupture”) of the vascular vessel in the presence of the pseudoaneurysm.

Keywords

• non-Newtonian blood flow;
• generalized Maxwell viscoelastic behavior
• viscoplatic behavior of the PFTE prosthesis
• pseudoaneurysm
• wall shear stress
• rupture risk