Characterization of the stent-grafts performance in abdominal aortic aneurysms

Abstract

Since the introduction of endovascular techniques in the early 1990s for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), the insertion of a stent-graft (SG) into the affected artery segment has been greatly successful for a certain group of AAA patients and is continuously evolving. However, although minimally invasive aneurysm repair is very attractive, post-operative complications may occur. The purpose of this paper is studying the effectiveness of stent geometry in terms of protecting the weak wall of an aneurysm sack from the impact of blood flow. Two dimensional model of a simplified aneurysm model was constructed with and without SG which have same parameter by using Solidworks2005. Blood flow was simulated across the aneurysm sack using (Engineering Fluid Dynamics) EFD. Lab7 software. The results showed a slight increase in pressure within the aneurysm region under simulated blood flow. When SG was introduced, the pressure at the aneurysm site was reduced. This study confirms the effectiveness of the aneurysm repair in terms of protecting the blood vessel from a possible rupture.