Computational analysis of type II endoleaks in a stented abdominal aortic aneurysm model

Insertion of a stent-graft into an aneurysm to form a new (synthetic) blood vessel and prevent the weakened artery wall from rupture is an attractive surgical intervention when compared to traditional open surgery. However, focusing on a stented abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), post-operative complications such as endoleaks may occur. An endoleak is the net influx of blood during the cardiac cycle into the cavity (or sac) formed by the stent-graft and the AAA wall. A natural endoleak source may stem from one or two secondary branches leading to and from the aneurysm, labeled types IIa and IIb endoleaks. Employing experimentally validated fluid-structure interaction solvers, the transient 3-D lumen and cavity blood flows, wall movements, pressure variations, maximum wall stresses and migration forces were computed for types IIa and IIb endoleaks. Simulation results indicate that the sac pressure caused by these endoleaks depends largely on the inlet branch pressure, where the branch inlet pressure increases, the sac pressure may reach the systemic level and AAA-rupture is possible. The maximum wall stress is typically located near the anterior-distal side in this model, while the maximum stent-graft stress occurs near the bifurcating point, in both cases, due to local stress concentrations. The time-varying leakage rate depends on the pressure difference between AAA sac and inlet branch. In contrast, the stent-graft migration force is reduced by type II endoleaks because it greatly depends on the pressure difference between the stent-graft and the aneurysm cavity.