Flow-tissue interaction with compliance mismatch in a model stented artery

The insertion of an endovascular prosthesis is known to have a thrombogenic effect that is also a consequence of the interaction between the flowing blood and the stented arterial segment; in fact the prosthesis induces a compliance mismatch and a possible small expansion along the vessel that eventually gives rise to an anomalous distribution of wall shear stresses. The fluid dynamics inside a rectilinear elastic vessel with compliance and section variation is studied here numerically. A recently introduced perturbative approach is employed to model the interaction between the fluid and the elastic tissue; this approximate technique is first validated by comparison with a complete solution within a simple one-dimensional model of the same system. Then it is applied to an axisymmetric model in order to evaluate the flow dynamics and the distribution of wall shear stress in the stented vessel. Compliance mismatch is shown to produce more intense negative wall shear stresses in the stented segment while rapid variations of wall shear stress are found at the stent ends. These effects are enhanced when the prosthesis is accompanied by a small increase of the vessel lumen.