Towards Additive Manufacture of Functional, Spline-Based Morphometric Models of Healthy and Diseased Coronary Arteries: In Vitro Proof-of-Concept Using a Porcine Template

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the additive manufacture of morphometric models of healthy and diseased coronary arteries. Using a dissected porcine coronary artery, a model was developed with the use of computer aided engineering, with splines used to design arteries in health and disease. The model was altered to demonstrate four cases of stenosis displaying varying severity, based on published morphometric data available. Both an Objet Eden 250 printer and a Solidscape 3Z Pro printer were used in this analysis. A wax printed model was set into a flexible thermoplastic and was valuable for experimental testing with helical flow patterns observed in healthy models, dominating the distal LAD (left anterior descending) and left circumflex arteries. Recirculation zones were detected in all models, but were visibly larger in the stenosed cases. Resin models provide useful analytical tools for understanding the spatial relationships of blood vessels, and could be applied to preoperative planning techniques, but were not suitable for physical testing. In conclusion, it is feasible to develop blood vessel models enabling experimental work; further, through additive manufacture of bio-compatible materials, there is the possibility of manufacturing customized replacement arteries.

3D Printed Biomodels for Flow Visualization in Stenotic Vessels: An Experimental and Numerical Study

“…Despite the variety of methods to produce arterial phantoms for flow visualization, 3D printing technologies have become popular due to its capability to fabricate full 3D structures that closely mimic the shape of human blood vessels [25,26]. There are different 3D printing methods that have been used in this field, such as fused deposition modelling [3,24,[27][28][29], Inkjet [30], PolyJet [24,31] and binder jetting [27]. In addition to these methods, a suitable technique to fabricate vessel models is SLA, which provides very high printing resolutions and accuracy, well-defined details, slightly visible layer lines, and an extremely smooth surface finish.…”

A Finite Element Model for Trigger Finger

“…Boundary conditions for models can also use boundary conditions specific to an individual [37]. One advantage of the generation of any computer-aided design model is that it can be 3D printed [38], which can also be useful for evaluation or interaction with patients when explaining the condition.…”

Multiscale three-dimensional surface reconstruction and surface roughness of porcine left anterior descending coronary arteries

“…However, the phenomenon is now considered in the design of vascular devices [12]. Physical coronary artery models have been created through additive manufacturing techniques to study blood flow in healthy and diseased systems [13]. Assessing the surface of coronary arteries at multiscale will provide invaluable information to predict the effect of multiscale roughness, for example through disease of coronary arteries, on blood flow and this helical phenomenon.…”

“…Understanding the multiscale variance in the surface roughness of coronary arteries would provide a quantifiable boundary condition to enable multiscale computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling, which could assist in predicting helical blood flow and disease [12]. Further, physical models have been created through additive manufacturing to study blood flow in healthy and diseased cardiovascular systems [13] and to mimic the mechanical properties of arteries to predict leakage after valve replacement [14]. This demonstrates the potential for creating bioinspired replacement materials through computer aided manufacture, and also phantoms which could mimic the multiscale surface of coronary arteries to study the effect of disease on blood flow.…”