| Plaque rupture is in the majority of the cases the underlying cause of cardiovascular events. Plaque rupture occurs at the locations were the stress exceeds the local plaque strength. Plaques are very heterogeneous in composition and local tissue strength. However, not much is known on the biomechanical properties of the different plaque components. In this project we investigate at which pressure and at what location the plaque would rupture by studying the local stress distribution and deformation of the different plaque components under increasing loading. Therefore, in an in vitro setup atherosclerotic plaques from patients or animal models of atherosclerosis are subjected to different pressure loadings and the local deformations are imaged using advanced imaging techniques. This information will be used to validate computations on stress distributions in these plaques. Advances will be made in imaging of plaque deformation and (multiscale) modeling of the different plaque components. Principal Investigators |
