Biomechanical response of varicose veins to elastic compression: A numerical study

TLDR: Results show that external compression is effective in decreasing the trans-mural pressure, thereby having a positive effect in the control and treatment of vein-related diseases.

About: This article is published in Journal of Biomechanics.The article was published on 2013-02-01 and is currently open access. It has received 33 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Varicose veins & Compression garment.

Figures

Table 2: Material properties of the different constitutive parts of the model.

Table 8A:

Table A12

Figure 1. Acquisition of echographic images both in the standing and supine position (a and b). A special precaution was taken as illustrated in panel c.

Figure 2: Finite element mesh of the 2D patient specific mesh. It consists of continuum plane strain elements for the muscle, fat and vein wall and truss elements for the muscular aponeurosis, skin and MCS. A relatively finer discretisation is used in the vicinity of the vein wall. The thickness-to-radius ratio of the vein is taken as 0.1, as reported in the literature.

Table A11

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What have the authors contributed in "Biomechanical response of varicose veins to elastic compression: a numerical study" ?

Biomechanical response of varicose veins to elastic compression: A numerical study. 

Q2. What is the main advantage of the “softened” contact algorithms?

The main advantage of the “softened” contact algorithms is that clearance is calculated from surface to surface instead of from node to surface. 

Q3. What constraint method was used to enforce the contact pressure-overclosure relationship?

a tie constraint (each node on the slave surface is constrained to have the same motion as the point on the master surface to which it is closest) was also investigated in place of the contact interaction. 

Q4. What is the effect of the external compression on the adipose tissue?

In the standing position, however, the benefit on the decrease in trans-mural pressure due to external compression, slightly but steadily increases (as) when the vein is closer to the skin. 

Q5. What constraint methods were used for enforcing the contact pressure-overclosure?

Both “hard” and “soft” constraint methods were investigated for enforcing the contact pressure-overclosure relationship (normal direction). 

Q6. What is the clinical relevance of the proposed model?

1809181 -3- Clinical relevance 182 From a clinical perspective, an increase of the trans-mural pressure on varicose vein walls exacerbates the 183 disease and the underlying Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI). 

Q7. what is the pressure in the venous wall due to EC?

Mean increase in hydrostatic pressure in fat due to EC 19.8 ±3.7 19.9 ±6.6 21.4 ±4.8 20.6 ±7.0 23.1 ±5.9 22.2 ±7.1 21.1 ±4.7 22.2 ±7.1 

Q8. what is the pressure in the vein wall due to EC?

Mean decrease of trans-mural pressure in vein wall due to EC 4.8 ±2.5 12.3 ±11.1 10.1 ±4.5 23.7 ±10.3 16.0 ±8.3 34.8 ±9.3 22.1 ±14.4 45.8 ±8.6