Dynamic pressure at sites of virtually removed paraclinoid aneurysms: A computational fluid dynamics study

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques were used to assess the dynamic pressure distribution at the sites of three virtually removed paraclinoid aneurysms. 3D Digital Subtraction Angiograms (3D-DSA) were used to create two computational meshes for each aneurysm. The first mesh was derived directly from the angiographic data containing the aneurysms. In the second mesh, the section of the artery across the aneurysm neck was virtually reconstructed by interpolation between the adjacent proximal and distal parts of the parent artery. This mesh is considered to be an approximation to the geometry of the parent artery before aneurysm formation. Results from the simulations showed that the peak dynamic pressures occurred at arterial bends. The change in the magnitude of dynamic pressure over the cycle was about 7.5 mmHg which is about 15% of the change in the background static pressure. However, further study is needed to clarify if this change in dynamic pressure would elicit any biochemical response from the vessel tissue.