Skip to main content
Download PDF

Viscoelastic properties of the autologous bypass grafts: A comparative study among the small saphenous vein and internal thoracic artery

Artery Research volume 19, pages 65–71 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Internal thoracic artery (ITA) and small saphenous vein (SSV) are two viable conduits for coronary artery bypass grafts. The aim of this study was to investigate the viscoelastic behavior of the small saphenous vein and internal thoracic artery under compressive and tensile loadings at body temperature. The dynamic mechanical analysis was used to measure the viscoelastic properties of the ITA and SSV at both the desired temperature and load frequency range. Storage modulus, loss modulus as well as phase angle of both the blood vessels were measured at the temperature of 37 ± 1 °C and under a sinusoidal load with the frequency range of 1–2 Hz. The mean storage and loss modulus of the SSV were both higher than that of the ITA. Furthermore, the SSV showed a higher stiffness and internal friction compared to those values under the tensile load. While ITA was stiffer under the tensile load, no considerable difference was observed among the compressive and tensile loss modulus. A more intense viscous behavior was observed under the radial direction. The results also revealed that the SSV has much higher stiffness whereas less viscous behavior compared to the ITA, especially in the radial direction. The results may have implications not only for understanding of the viscoelastic time-dependent mechanical behavior of the ITA and SSV but also for tissue engineering applications to make scaffolds according to the real time-dependent viscoelastic mechanical properties of these arteries and veins.

References

  1. Drake R, Vogl AW, Mitchell AW. Gray’s anatomy for students. Elsevier Health Sciences; 2014.

  2. Mendoza E, Lattimer CR, Morrison N. Duplex ultrasound of superficial leg veins. Springer; 2014.

  3. Sarwar U, Chetty G, Sarkar P. The short saphenous vein: a viable alternative conduit for coronary artery bypass grafts harvested using a novel technical approach. J Surg Tech Case Rep 2012;4:61–3.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Chang BB, Paty PS, Shah DM, Leather RP. The lesser saphenous vein: an underappreciated source of autogenous vein. J Vasc Surg 1992;15:152–7.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lytle B, Loop FD, Cosgrove D, Ratliff N, Easley K, Taylor PC. Long-term (5 to 12 years) serial studies of internal mammary artery and saphenous vein coronary bypass grafts. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1985;89:248–58.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Konig G, McAllister TN, Dusserre N, Garrido SA, Iyican C, Marini A, et al. Mechanical properties of completely autologous human tissue engineered blood vessels compared to human saphenous vein and mammary artery. Biomaterials 2009;30: 1542–50.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Goldman S, Zadina K, Moritz T, Ovitt T, Sethi G, Copeland JG, et al. Long-term patency of saphenous vein and left internal mammary artery grafts after coronary artery bypass surgery: results from a department of veterans affairs cooperative study. J Am Coll Cardiol 2004;44:2149–56.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kwan KS. The role of penetrant structure in the transport and mechanical properties of a thermoset adhesive. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; 1998.

  9. Menard KP. Dynamic mechanical analysis: a practical introduction. CRC Press; 2008.

  10. Johnson WD, Flemma RJ, Lepley Jr D, Ellison EH. Extended treatment of severe coronary artery disease: a total surgical approach. Ann Surg 1969;170:460.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bailey C, Hirose T. Successful internal mammary–coronary arterial anastomosis using a “minivascular” suturing technic. Int Surg 1968;49:416.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Green GE. Internal mammary artery-to-coronary artery anastomosis: three-year experience with 165 patients. Ann Thorac Surg 1972;14:260–71.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Walden R, Gilbert J, Megerman J, Abbott WM. Matched elastic properties and successful arterial grafting. Arch Surg 1980; 115:1166–9.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Zamboni P, Portaluppi F, Marcellino MG, Quaglio D, Manfredini R, Feo CV, et al. In vitro versus in vivo assessment of vein wall properties. Ann Vasc Surg 1998;12:324–9.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Chamiot-Clerc P, Copie X, Renaud J-F, Safar M, Girerd X. Comparative reactivity and mechanical properties of human isolated internal mammary and radial arteries. Cardiovasc Res 1998;37:811–9.

    Google Scholar 

  16. van Andel CJ, Pistecky PV, Borst C. Mechanical properties of porcine and human arteries: implications for coronary anastomotic connectors. Ann Thorac Surg 2003;76:58–64.

    Google Scholar 

  17. van Haaren EH, van der Zwaard BC, van der Veen AJ, Heyligers IC, Wuisman PI, Smit TH. Effect of long-term preservation on the mechanical properties of cortical bone in goats. Acta Orthop 2008;79:708–16.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Stefan U, Michael B, Werner S. Effects of three different preservation methods on the mechanical properties of human and bovine cortical bone. Bone 2010;47:1048–53.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Li M, Beech-Brandt J, John L, Hoskins P, Easson W. Numerical analysis of pulsatile blood flow and vessel wall mechanics in different degrees of stenoses. J Biomech 2007;40:3715–24.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Khosravi A, Bani MS, Bahreinizad H, Karimi A. A computational fluid–structure interaction model to predict the biomechanical properties of the artificial functionally graded aorta. Biosci Rep 2016 Dec 23;36(6):e00431.

  21. Fung Y-c. Biomechanics: mechanical properties of living tissues. Springer Science & Business Media; 2013.

  22. Sarkar S, Salacinski H, Hamilton G, Seifalian A. The mechanical properties of infrainguinal vascular bypass grafts: their role in influencing patency. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 2006;31:627–36.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lozano R, Naghavi M, Foreman K, Lim S, Shibuya K, Aboyans V, et al. Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 2013;380: 2095–128.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Karimi A, Navidbakhsh M, Rahmani S, Sera T, Kudo S. Experimental verification of the healthy and atherosclerotic coronary arteries incompressibility via digital image correlation. Artery Res 2016;16:1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Karimi A, Navidbakhsh M, Rahmati SM, Sera T, Kudo S. A combination of constitutive damage model and artificial neural networks to characterize the mechanical properties of the healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries. Artif Organs 2017 Feb 2. http://doi.org/10.1111/aor.12855.

  26. Karimi A, Navidbakhsh M, Rahmati SM, Sera T, Kudo S. A combination of experimental and numerical methods to investigate the role of strain rate on the mechanical properties and collagen fiber orientations of the healthy and atherosclerotic human coronary arteries. Bioengineered 2017 Mar 4;8(2):154–70.

  27. Yusuf S, Zucker D, Passamani E, Peduzzi P, Takaro T, Kennedy JW, et al. Effect of coronary artery bypass graft surgery on survival: overview of 10-year results from randomised trials by the Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Trialists Collaboration. Lancet 1994;344:563–70.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Karimi A, Navidbakhsh M, Razaghi R. A finite element study of balloon expandable stent for plaque and arterial wall vulnerability assessment. J Appl Phys 2014;116:044701–10.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Galbut DL, Traad EA, Dorman MJ, DeWitt PL, Larsen PB, Kurlansky PA. Bilateral internal mammary artery grafts in patients with left main coronary artery disease. J Card Surg 1993; 8:18–24.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Karimi A, Navidbakhsh M, Alizadeh M, Shojaei A. A comparative study on the mechanical properties of the umbilical vein and umbilical artery under uniaxial loading. Artery Res 2014;8: 51–6.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Karimi A, Navidbakhsh M, Rezaee T, Hassani K. Measurement of the circumferential mechanical properties of the umbilical vein: experimental and numerical analyses. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Eng 2015;18:1418–26.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Razaghi R, Karimi A, Rahmani S, Navidbakhsh M. A computational fluid–structure interaction model of the blood flow in the healthy and varicose saphenous vein. Vascular 2016 Jun; 24(3):254–63.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Shah PJ, Gordon I, Fuller J, Seevanayagam S, Rosalion A, Tatoulis J, et al. Factors affecting saphenous vein graft patency: clinical and angiographic study in 1402 symptomatic patients operated on between 1977 and 1999. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;126:1972–7.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Davies A, Magee T, Baird R, Sheffield E, Horrocks M. Vein compliance: a preoperative indicator of vein morphology and of veins at risk of vascular graft stenosis. Br J Surg 1992;79: 1019–21.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Perktold K, Rappitsch G. Computer simulation of local blood flow and vessel mechanics in a compliant carotid artery bifurcation model. J Biomech 1995;28:845–56.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atherosclerosis Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Science, 15897, Tehran, Iran

    Arezoo Khosravi

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 16887, Tehran, Iran

    Milad Salimi Bani

  3. Mechanical Engineering Department, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

    Hossein Bahreinizad

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, 819-0395, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan

    Alireza Karimi

Authors
  1. Arezoo Khosravi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Milad Salimi Bani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hossein Bahreinizad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alireza Karimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Milad Salimi Bani.

Rights and permissions

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license. https://doi.org/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Khosravi, A., Bani, M.S., Bahreinizad, H. et al. Viscoelastic properties of the autologous bypass grafts: A comparative study among the small saphenous vein and internal thoracic artery. Artery Res 19, 65–71 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2017.06.007

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2017.06.007

Keywords

Artery Research

ISSN: 1876-4401

Contact us