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SUMMARY:Micromechanics of Carotid Plaque Rupture - Graeham Douglas
DTSTART:20140128T143000Z
DTEND:20140128T150000Z
UID:TALK50563@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anna Walczyk
DESCRIPTION:The climatic event in atherosclerotic progression is the ruptu
 re of the plaque’s fibrous cap\, releasing thrombogenic lipid material i
 nto the lumen which may result in an occlusion.  This mechanism is respons
 ible for about 60% of heart attacks and strokes.  Vulnerability to rupture
  for a particular fibrous cap is a key clinical question\, but relatively 
 little is known about the mechanisms of these events.  Presumably\, the ti
 ssue is overloaded\, either by increase of the effective stress or decreas
 e of the effective material strength.  Previous work in our group has look
 ed at the role of geometric and material property-mismatch in increasing s
 tresses.  One limitation of such an approach is that the failure stresses 
 of the fibrous cap in vitro are several times higher than the maximum in v
 ivo stresses predicted by computational models.  This suggests a more comp
 licated failure mechanism of the material.\nThe focus for the present work
  is in understanding the micromechanics basis for the strength of the fibr
 ous cap.  It is hypothesised that the strength of the fibrous cap comes fr
 om the nature of the fibrous collagen network making up the tissue.  There
 fore\, parameters of the network can be considered and modelled to predict
  material properties of the tissue as a whole.  Preliminary tensile experi
 ments on carotid tissue have been completed\, along with SEM images to ana
 lyse the fibrous structure of the tissue. It is hoped that understanding t
 he micromechanics of the failure of atherosclerotic plaques will lead to b
 etter prediction of plaque vulnerability to rupture and suggest avenues fo
 r novel treatments.
LOCATION:Cambridge University Engineering Department\, Oatley meeting room
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