Finite element analysis of TAVI: Impact of native aortic root computational modeling strategies on simulation outcomes

• DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2017.06.045
• Publication Date: 2017-07-17T03:45:25Z
• Authors: Alice Finotello; Simone Morganti; Ferdinando Auricchio
• Keywords: Male; Transcatheter aortic valve implantation; Patient-specific modeling; Compressive Strength; Finite Element Analysis; Finite element analysis; Models, Cardiovascular; Aortic Valve Stenosis; 620; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement; 03 medical and health sciences; Treatment Outcome; 0302 clinical medicine; Surgery, Computer-Assisted; Aortic Valve; Elastic Modulus; Tensile Strength; Anisotropy; Humans; Computer Simulation; Stress, Mechanical; Aged

In the last few years, several studies, each with different aim and modeling detail, have been proposed to investigate transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with finite elements. The present work focuses on the patient-specific finite element modeling of the aortic valve complex. In particular, we aim at investigating how different modeling strategies in terms of material models/properties and discretization procedures can impact analysis results. Four different choices both for the mesh size (from 20 k elements to 200 k elements) and for the material model (from rigid to hyperelastic anisotropic) are considered. Different approaches for modeling calcifications are also taken into account. Post-operative CT data of the real implant are used as reference solution with the aim of outlining a trade-off between computational model complexity and reliability of the results.