Mechanical characteristics of vascular tissue and their role in brain injury modeling: a review

A review of the mechanical characterization of vascular tissue is presented in the context of its relevance to the computational modeling of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Mathematical representations of experimentally observed vascular behavior are described. Several material models, for large vessels, and their applicability to blood vessels in the brain are discussed. Integration of vascular tissue behavior into an existing computational model of the brain, to account for the anisotropic effects they produce, is discussed.