Optical Coherence Tomography Based Biomechanical Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Coronary Atherosclerosis Progression

In this paper, we present a complete workflow for the biomechanical analysis of atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary vasculature. With atherosclerosis ...

University of Adelaide

Filters are commonly used in sound reproduction and communication systems as a means of compensating for the response of the electro-acoustic plant. Two commonly used filter designs in the field of acoustics are the time reversal filter and the Tikhonov inverse filter. In this paper the influence of transducer sensitivities on the performance of these filters is examined. It is shown that the sensitivity of the transducers can negatively affect the performance of the resulting filter. To compensate for the decrease in performance, diagonal preconditioning can be implemented in the system. It is shown that by using diagonal matrices, which minimize the condition number of the system, the loss in performance arising from unbalanced sensitivities is minimized. This paper proposes an algorithm to find such a set of diagonal matrices and results are presented showing the improvements in performance arising from the modified filter design.

Transducer sensitivity compensation using diagonal preconditioning for time reversal and Tikhonov inverse filtering in acoustic systems.

A frequent problem in active noise control is that the zone of quiet created at the error sensor tends to be very small. This means that the error sensor generally needs to be located close to an observer's ear, which might not always be a convenient or feasible solution. Virtual sensing is a method that can move the zone of quiet away from the error sensor to a desired location that is spatially fixed. This method has been investigated previously, and has shown potential to improve the performance of an active noise control system. However, it is very likely that the desired location of the zone of quiet is not spatially fixed. An active noise control system incorporating a virtual sensing method thus has to be able to create a moving zone of quiet that tracks the observer's ears. This paper presents a method for creating a moving zone of quiet based on the LMS virtual microphone technique. To illustrate the proposed method, it is implemented in an acoustic duct and narrowband control results are presented. These results show that a moving zone of quiet was effectively created inside the duct for narrowband noise.

A moving zone of quiet for narrowband noise in a one-dimensional duct using virtual sensing.

The application of inverse filter designs as a means of providing improved communication performance in acoustic environments is investigated. Tikhonov regularized inverse filters of channel transfer functions calculated in the frequency domain are used as a means of obtaining multi-channel filters. Three classifications of inverse filter structures have been considered using time-domain simulations. The performance of Tikhonov regularized inverse filters designed according to each of these classifications is compared with each other and against a filter design developed by Stojanovic [Stojanovic, M. (2005). "Retrofocusing techniques for high rate acoustic communications," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 1173-1185]. It is shown that the filter design developed by Stojanovic requires less regularization and outperforms the Tikhonov regularized inverse filter designs when communicating over a single channel. While the filter developed by Stojanovic is designed to use multiple transmitters to transmit to a single receiver, the filter was implemented in a multi-channel system and proposed to have a focusing similar to that obtained using time-reversal. It was found that for the scenario used in the simulation, the Tikhonov regularized inverse design for full multi-channel inversion achieved better focusing than the design by Stojanovic, where simulation results show 20 dB less cross-talk at the expense of around 2 dB loss in signal strength.

A comparison of filter design structures for multi-channel acoustic communication systems.

Coronary artery diseases and aortic valve stenosis are two of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Stenosis of the aortic valve develops due to calcium deposition on the aortic valve leaflets during the cardiac cycle. Clinical investigations have demonstrated that aortic valve stenosis not only affects hemodynamic parameters inside the aortic root but also has a significant influence on the coronary artery hemodynamics and leads to the initiation of coronary artery disease. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of calcification of the aortic valve on the variation of hemodynamic parameters in the aortic root and coronary arteries in order to find potential locations for initiation of the coronary stenoses.

Fluid structure interaction modelling of aortic valve stenosis: Effects of valve calcification on coronary artery flow and aortic root hemodynamics.

A fluid-structure interaction-based biomechanical model of the entire left anterior descending coronary artery is developed from in vivo imaging via the finite element method in this paper. Included in this investigation is ventricle contraction, three-dimensional motion, all angiographically visible side branches, hyper/viscoelastic artery layers, non-Newtonian and pulsatile blood flow, and the out-of-phase nature of blood velocity and pressure. The fluid-structure interaction model is based on in vivo angiography of an elite athlete's entire left anterior descending coronary artery where the influence of including all alternating side branches and the dynamical contraction of the ventricle is investigated for the first time. Results show the omission of side branches result in a 350% increase in peak wall shear stress and a 54% decrease in von Mises stress. Peak von Mises stress is underestimated by up to 80% when excluding ventricle contraction and further alterations in oscillatory shear indices are seen, which provide an indication of flow reversal and has been linked to atherosclerosis localization. Animations of key results are also provided within a video abstract. We anticipate that this model and results can be used as a basis for our understanding of the interaction between coronary and myocardium biomechanics. It is hoped that further investigations could include the passive and active components of the myocardium to further replicate in vivo mechanics and lead to an understanding of the influence of cardiac abnormalities, such as arrythmia, on coronary biomechanical responses.

Anthony C. Zander

School of Mechanical Engineering

University of Adelaide

Optical Coherence Tomography Based Biomechanical Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Coronary Atherosclerosis Progression

Anthony C. Zander

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}School of Mechanical Engineering

University of Adelaide

Optical Coherence Tomography Based Biomechanical Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Coronary Atherosclerosis Progression

School of Mechanical Engineering