Physics of blood flow in arteries and its relation to intra-luminal thrombus and atherosclerosis

Sammanfattning: Vascular pathologies such as Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) and atherosclerosis are complex vascular diseases involving biological, mechanical, and fluid-dynamical factors. This thesis follows a multidisciplinary approach and presents an integrated fluid-chemical theory of ILT growth and analyzes the shear-induced migration of red blood cells (RBCs) in large arteries with respect to hypoxia and its possible role in atherosclerosis. The concept of Vortical Structures (VSs) is employed, with which a theory of uid-chemically-driven ILT growth is formulated. The theory proposes that VSs play an important role in convecting and activating platelets in the aneurysmatic bulge. In particular, platelets are convected toward the distal aneurysm region inside vortex cores and are activated via a combination of high residence times and relatively high shear stress at the vortex boundary. After vortex breakup, platelets are free to adhere to the thrombogenic wall surface. VSs also convect thrombin, a potent procoagulant enzyme, captured in their core, through the aneurysmatic lumen and force its accumulation in the distal portion of the AAA. This framework is in line with the clinical observation that the thickest ILT is usually seen in the distal AAA region. The investigation of the fluid-dynamics in arteries led to the study of the shear-induced migration of RBCs in large vessels such as the abdominal aorta and the carotid artery. Marked RBCs migration is observed in the region of the carotid sinus and in the iliac arteries, regions prone to atherogenesis. This leads to the hypothesis that oxyhemoglobin availability can decrease in the near-wall region thus contributing to wall hypoxia, a factor implicated in atherosclerosis. The thesis proposes a new potential mechanism of ILT growth, driven by fluid and chemical stimuli, which can be used to study ILT progression over physiologically relevant timeframes and be used as a framework to test new hypotheses; the thesis also provides new insights on the oxyhemoglobin availability in the near-wall region with direct inuence on atherosclerosis.