Key result
Novel MB-FEMU method tracks carotid artery stiffening with age, disease, and cardiac cycle phase.
Why the study?
The stiffness of the arterial wall, modified by cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, is an indicator of vulnerability requiring in vivo quantification methods.
Observational (n=13)
The MB-FEMU method using MRI and tonometry can quantify in vivo carotid artery stiffness, demonstrating age- and disease-related stiffening as well as nonlinear mechanical behavior during the cardiac cycle.
Supports noninvasive carotid stiffness quantification; leaves open clinical adoption pending prospective validation.
The stiffness of the arterial wall, which is modified by many cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, is known to be an indicator of vulnerability. This work focuses on the in vivo quantification of the stiffness of the common carotid artery (CCA) by applying the Magnitude Based Finite Element Model Updating (MB-FEMU) method to 13 healthy and diseased volunteers aged from 24 to 76 years old. The MB-FEMU method is based on the minimisation of the deviation between the image of a deformed artery and a registered image of this artery deformed by means of a finite elements analysis. Cross sections of the neck of each subject at different times of the cardiac cycle are recorded using a Phase Contrast cine-MRI. Applanation tonometry is then performed to obtain the blood pressure variations in the CCA throughout a heart beat. First, a time averaged elastic modulus of each CCA between diastole and systole is identified and a stiffening of the artery with age and disease is observed. Second, four elastic moduli are identified during a single heart beat for each artery, highlighting the nonlinear mechanical behaviour of the artery. A stiffening of the artery is observed and quantified at systole in comparison to diastole.
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Franquet et al. (2013) conducted an observational in Atherosclerosis (n=13). Magnitude Based Finite Element Model Updating (MB-FEMU) method was evaluated on Time averaged elastic modulus of each common carotid artery between diastole and systole. The MB-FEMU method identified a stiffening of the common carotid artery with age and disease, and quantified nonlinear mechanical behavior with increased stiffness at systole compared to diastole.
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