A mechanical study of patient-specific cerebral aneurysm models: The correlations between stress and displacement with geometrical indices

Solid mechanics plays an important role in the progression and rupture of cerebral aneurysms. The hypothesis is that the mechanism that control aneurysm enlargement is the wall remodeling under the effect of time dependent arterial pressure. When the aneurysm enlarges, the characteristics of the collagen fibers change, increasing the risk of rupture. The current work describes the solid dynamics in 30 patient-specific models of cerebral aneurysms. An area based index shows important difference between unruptured and ruptured aneurysms. The effective wall stress and displacement showed large variations depending on aneurysm size and form. The effects of hypertension were reported and correlations between the maximal effective stress and displacement with geometrical indices were found.