Background: Many studies have demonstrated that the geometry of the carotid bifurcation enables prediction of blood flow variation associated with atherosclerotic plaque formation. The phase angle between the arterial wall circumferential strain and its instantaneous wall shear stress is known as stress phase angle (SPA). This parameter is used to evaluate hemodynamic factors of atherogenesis. Note that SPA can be numerically computed for the purpose of locating atherosclerosis in different artery geometries. However, there is no experimental data to verify its role in the location of atherosclerosis in different artery geometries. In this study, we use an ultrasonic biomechanical method to experimentally evaluate the role of SPA for locating atherosclerosis in carotid bifurcation.
Results: For carotid anthropomorphic vascular phantom experiments, the SPAs of common carotid arteries (CCAs), external carotid arteries (ECAs) and internal carotid arteries (ICAs) are - 148.53 ± 6.92°, - 153.95 ± 5.11°, and - 238.69 ± 1.72°, respectively. The corresponding SPAs are - 173.47 ± 0.065°, - 115.57 ± 4.83° and - 233.9 ± 8.12° for the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA-c) phantoms. In vivo mouse experiments indicated that the wall shear stress and circumferential strain were out of phase in the ICAs (- 280.08 ± 13.12°) to a greater extent as compared to CCAs (- 141.97 ± 8.03°) and ECAs (- 170.07 ± 9.24°).
Conclusions: The results suggested that SPA may be a useful indicator to locate the atherosclerosis position in carotid bifurcation.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Carotid bifurcation; Hemodynamics; Ultrasound imaging; Wall shear stress.