Inflation and Bi-Axial Tensile Testing of Healthy Porcine Carotid Arteries

• Published in: Ultrasound in medicine & biology Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 574 - 585
• Main Authors: Boekhoven, Renate W, Peters, Mathijs F.J, Rutten, Marcel C.M, van Sambeek, Marc R, van de Vosse, Frans N, Lopata, Richard G.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 01.02.2016
• Subjects: Animals; Bi-axial tensile testing; Carotid Arteries - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Arteries - physiology; Carotid artery; Computer Simulation; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; In Vitro Techniques; Inflation testing; Models, Biological; Pattern Recognition, Automated - methods; Pressure; Radiology; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stress, Mechanical; Swine; Tensile Strength - physiology; Ultrasonography - methods; Ultrasound elastography; Ultrasound elastography; Inflation testing; Carotid artery; Bi-axial tensile testing
• ISSN: 0301-5629; 1879-291X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.09.019

Abstract Knowledge of the intrinsic material properties of healthy and diseased arterial tissue components is of great importance in diagnostics. This study describes an in vitro comparison of 13 porcine carotid arteries using inflation testing combined with functional ultrasound and bi-axial tensile testing. The measured tissue behavior was described using both a linear, but geometrically non-linear, one-parameter (neo-Hookean) model and a two-parameter non-linear (Demiray) model. The shear modulus estimated using the linear model resulted in good agreement between the ultrasound and tensile testing methods, GUS  = 25 ± 5.7 kPa and GTT  = 23 ± 5.4 kPa. No significant correspondence was observed for the non-linear model aUS  = 1.0 ± 2.7 kPa vs. aTT  = 17 ± 8.8 kPa, p  ∼ 0); however, the exponential parameters were in correspondence ( bUS  = 12 ± 4.2 vs. bTT  = 10 ± 1.7, p > 0.05). Estimation of more complex models in vivo is cumbersome considering the sensitivity of the model parameters to small changes in measurement data and the absence of intraluminal pressure data, endorsing the use of a simple, linear model in vivo.