Fluid structure interaction versus rigid-wall approach in the study of the symptomatic stenosed carotid artery: Importance of wall compliance and resilience of loose connective tissue

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of a compliant wall approach in modeling of non-Newtonian and non-physiological blood flows. A case study of a stenosed and symptomatic carotid bifurcation was considered to show the influence of the wall-resilience assumption on the flow parameters obtained with numerical simulations. Patient-specific data concerning the geometry and flow conditions were collected and used to carry out two-way coupled fluid structure interaction simulations of the pulsatile blood flow through carotid artery. The wall compliance was considered separately as related to the wall-elasticity and as associated with the reaction of the loose connective tissue surrounding the carotid bifurcation. The obtained hemodynamic parameters were compared to those which were found in rigid-wall simulations. The difference between the results obtained for rigid-wall and compliant-wall approaches for the peak-systolic area-averaged wall shear stress achieved 35%, whereas the difference between the time-averaged local vorticity and shear strain reached, respectively, 42% and 43%. The influence of the highly resilient wall on the monitored hemodynamic parameters was significant even if time-averaged values are compared, which suggests that these metrics are considerably overestimated if the wall compliance is not considered. Moreover, the findings show that the mechanical response of the loose connective tissue cannot be neglected in blood flow simulations. Additionally, this study indicates that stiffening of the arterial wall due to atherosclerosis significantly rises hemodynamic parameters. This explains the therapeutic benefits of surgical removal of plaque lesions formed in the carotid bifurcation (endarterectomy).