Rapid identifying for high-risk Type B aortic dissection populations: A hemodynamic study

Abstract

Currently, the blood force on the vessel wall (BFVW) is generally obtained using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which is hampered by professional CFD knowledge to perform the correct simulation. This study aims to propose a new method to quickly calculate BFVW in TBAD-susceptible areas and to find the association between BFVW and the occurrence of TBAD. Using the momentum theorem, a fast, accurate, and clinician-friendly non-numerical simulation method was proposed and validated against CFD in 30 high-risk TBAD patients and 30 healthy controls. It is found out that aortic geometric morphology of one specific patient experienced almost no change before and after the onset of TBAD. The post-onset imaging data of acute TBAD patients is adequate as pre-onset models. The linear regression analysis showed good agreement in BFVW calculated by the two methods (R > 0.98). The magnitude of BFVW in the TBAD groups was significantly greater than in healthy controls (23.22 N ± 5.64 N vs 15.37 N ± 3.08 N, P < 0.01). The BFVW orientation in the healthy control group was primarily vertical, whereas the angle between the BFVW and the vertical direction was greater in the TBAD group (P < 0.01). The proposed method can quickly and accurately calculate patient-specific BFVW. It can therefore help clinicians identify potential TBAD populations early on and provide further evidence for optimizing blood pressure management to prevent TBAD.