In Vitro Assessment of Non-Newtonian Hemodynamics in Aorta Phantom with Particle Image Velocimetry

International audienceArterial hemodynamics are essential in the development of cardiovascular pathologies, such as aneurysms or aortic dissection where vessel walls can be torn and weakened. Surgical or endovascular procedures are performed to treat these diseases. However, these procedures often result in complications (aortic rupture, malperfusion, etc.) [1] partly due to difficulties in visualizing and analyzing the flow to prevent them. In vitro studies can provide more precise flow visualizations than traditional medical imaging [2-3] and thus, a better understanding of disease progression, and treatment. In this work, an aortic flow simulator was designed to study non-Newtonian hemodynamics in pathologic aortic replicas. Experiments were conducted on a patient-specific compliant silicon model of the human aorta. A circulatory mock loop was set up to control and monitor pulsatile flow and pressure (fig. 1). To address blood rheology, a non-Newtonian blood mimicking fluid was designed with Xanthan gum polymers and glycerol solutions. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was implemented to describe and map non-Newtonian flow fields in the phantom (fig. 2). Velocities were calculated for 12 different times in the cardiac cycle and averaged on 500 cycles. The current results are limited to a specific geometry of the aorta with aneurysm but the experimental set-up can accommodate various shapes of model. Pathological aorta models with aortic dissection will be tested with similar PIV evaluations. It will be compared with in vivo data for validation and numerical simulations for complementary analysi