Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 27;14(1):7212. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-57460-w.
The endovascular neural interface provides an appealing minimally invasive alternative to invasive brain electrodes for recording and stimulation. However, stents placed in blood vessels have long been known to affect blood flow (haemodynamics) and lead to neointimal growth within the blood vessel. Both the stent elements (struts and electrodes) and blood vessel wall geometries can affect the mechanical environment on the blood vessel wall, which could lead to unfavourable vascular remodelling after stent placement. With increasing applications of stents and stent-like neural interfaces in venous blood vessels in the brain, it is necessary to understand how stents affect blood flow and tissue growth in veins. We explored the haemodynamics of a stent-mounted neural interface in a blood vessel model. Results indicated that blood vessel deformation and tapering caused a substantial change to the lumen geometry and the haemodynamics. The neointimal proliferation was evaluated in sheep implanted with an endovascular neural interface. Analysis showed a negative correlation with the mean Wall Shear Stress pattern. The results presented here indicate that the optimal stent oversizing ratio must be considered to minimise the haemodynamic impact of stenting.
血管内神经接口为记录和刺激提供了一种有吸引力的微创替代方法，替代侵入性脑电极。然而，人们早就知道血管内放置支架会影响血流（血液动力学）并导致血管内新内膜生长。支架元件（支柱和电极）和血管壁几何形状都会影响血管壁上的力学环境，这可能导致支架放置后血管重塑不良。随着支架和类似支架的神经接口在大脑静脉中的应用越来越多，有必要了解支架如何影响静脉中的血流和组织生长。我们在血管模型中探索了支架式神经接口的血液动力学。结果表明，血管变形和变细导致管腔几何形状和血液动力学发生了实质性变化。在植入血管内神经接口的绵羊中评估了新内膜增生。分析显示与平均壁面切应力模式呈负相关。这里呈现的结果表明，必须考虑最佳的支架过度扩张比，以最小化支架的血液动力学影响。
