Researchers:
Victoria Sturgeon, Gregory McCauley
Abdominal aortic aneurysms
(AAA) are one of the top 20 causes of death in the United States today.
AAAs are a dilatation or ballooning of the aorta in the region of the body
near the kidneys; left untreated, the aorta may rupture, causing death from
massive internal bleeding. A silent killer, they often strike without
warning. However, in many cases, an AAA is discovered in a patient before
it becomes critical, and to that end, many treatments have been developed to
help prevent rupture. One such treatment option is the insertion of a stent-graft
system to essentially seal off the diseased area of the aorta. However, the
underlying fluid dynamics of that area are not well-understood.
Building on past work done in this lab on
the carotid bifurcation, we aim to characterize the complex interactions
between the compliant blood vessel walls, the fabric graft, and the metal
stent in pulsatile flow. Ultimately, we hope to improve the design of stent-grafts
from a fluids perspective, preventing some of the most common forms of
device failure in evidence today.