动脉粥样硬化斑块的残余应力及零载荷状态研究

动脉粥样硬化斑块破裂及继发血栓是导致心肌梗死和脑卒中等心脑血管疾病发生的主要原因。因而，易损斑块的早期识别和诊断是防治心脑血管疾病的关键。目前，大量基于医学图像的生物力学分析为斑块的易损性判断提供了参考，但是前期的研究忽略了血管斑块残余应力和零载荷状态这两个核心的基础问题。本项目针对“血管斑块的残余应力和零载荷状态是怎样的，以及它们同斑块的生长和易损性有怎样的联系？”这一基础核心问题，基于兔动脉粥样硬化模型，采用血管内超声成像和压力测量的方法，在体研究斑块内残余应力的分布规律和零载荷状态的特征，并在进一步的建模中考虑这些因素，分析斑块内的应力分布，研究斑块的残余应力和零载荷状态同斑块易损性的关联规律。项目的成功开展将有助于我们深入了解斑块生长和应力之间的关联规律，为易损斑块的量化判定和早期预警以及风险评估提供理论基础和技术手段，也为将来的临床实践提供新思路。

Rupture of atherosclerotic plaque often causes heart attack and stroke. Early detection of vulnerable plaques pre rupture is crucial for the risk stratification of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Plenty of image-based biomechanical analysis has provided helpful information for vulnerable plaque identification. However, most previous studies have not considered either the residual stress or the zero-load state of the plaque, which are both critical for the biomechanical analysis. Therefore, this project aims to address the key question: “what are the residual stress and the zero-load state of the plaque, and how they are related to plaque growth and vulnerability?”. Rabbit atherosclerosis model will be studied by combining intravascular ultrasound imaging and pressure measurements. In vivo biomechanical tests will be performed to investigate the residual stress and zero-load state of the plaques. Biomechanical analysis will be conducted by taking into considerations of these factors. Moreover, we will investigate the associations between the residual stress and the zero-load state and plaque vulnerability. This project will enable us to establish the image-based biomechanical analysis methodology for plaque vulnerability identification and provide a foundation for risk stratification of cardiovascular diseases. Success of this project may lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanism between plaque growth and mechanical stress. It will contribute to the identification of high-risk patients with cardiovascular diseases.