Towards Patient-Specific Modeling of an Enlarging Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

There has been a clear need for better understanding of the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and obtaining reliable prediction of the AAA rupture. Finite element analysis (FEA) using non-axisymmetric models of AAAs provides better estimation of stress distribution in the aneurysmal wall with complex shapes [1]. However, FEA alone does not provide a mathematical description for the evolution of an AAA through growth and remodeling (G&R). A computational framework for modeling stress-mediated growth and structural remodeling of the arterial wall under physiological and pathological conditions has been suggested using a constrained mixture assumption [2]. Stress-mediated enlargement of intracranial aneurysms has been investigated using idealized axisymmetric geometries [3,4]. The kinetics of stress-mediated turnover of collagen fiber families and degradation of elastin were found to have particular importance in the G&R of aneurysmal wall.