Patient anamnesis and its impact on mechanical properties of atherosclerotic carotid arteries: An explorative study

Abstract

: Atherosclerosis is a life-threatening disease characterized by progressive lipoprotein accumulation in the inner artery layer. The beginning and the first stages of the disease are linked with endothelial layer disruption. Since there is previous evidence that lifestyle (including diet, unhealthy habits such as smoking or alcohol dinking) can influence the atherosclerotic process, their impact on the mechanical properties should be investigated as well. In this study, 141 uniaxial tests on carotid endarterectomy samples were performed, and statistical analysis was made to investigate the possible influence of these factors from anamnesis on the stress-strain characteristics. The factors found as important were smoking and alcohol drinking, since the stress-strain curve proved to be significantly different from the group without the influence of addictive substances. However, only separate factors were investigated, and further analysis should be made to reveal possible corelations between these factors.