In the United States, atherosclerosis, an artery-clogging condition, tops the list of causes of death, yet about half of American adults over 45 are unaware they have it.
The National Institutes of Health highlights this concerning fact about a disease marked by plaque buildup in the arteries, the vital channels that carry blood from the heart throughout the body. Often, the disease remains hidden until it becomes severe.
Enter the surprising solution from a seemingly unrelated field: Mechanical engineering. Nora Caroline Wild, a doctoral student at George Washington University, is merging her expertise in this area with medical science.
She’s using her knowledge of how fluids move and behave to uncover early warning signs of atherosclerosis.
Wild explains that symptoms of atherosclerosis often mean the disease has already advanced.
In her research in the Biofluid Dynamics Lab, she’s investigating how certain physical features of a person’s blood vessels could hint at an increased risk of this condition.
She’s exploring questions like: Can the shape and size of a person’s blood vessels, or the way they branch off, indicate if someone is more likely to develop atherosclerosis?
Plaque, the main culprit in atherosclerosis, consists of cholesterol, cellular waste, and other fats that stick to the walls of blood vessels.
Normally, the cells lining these walls prevent plaque from building up, thanks to a response to the blood flow they’re constantly in touch with.
In a healthy body, blood flow generates tiny, swirling motions that apply a kind of rubbing force against the artery walls. This force, called shear stress, keeps the endothelial cells (the ones lining the blood vessels) active and stops plaque from accumulating.
Wild discovered that this crucial shear stress depends on the shape and structure of the arteries. She uses a simple analogy to explain this: Imagine water flowing over a ramp. If the ramp has a gentle slope, the water will flow smoothly over it and onto the ground.
But if the ramp ends suddenly in a steep drop, the water will shoot over the edge and barely touch the ground. Similar things happen in our blood vessels.
Where they branch off, like the carotid artery in our neck that splits into two, the angle of this split can affect how well blood flows and applies shear stress to the vessel walls.
Using data from patients, Wild created two models of this branching area in the carotid artery. One model, based on healthy individuals, showed a gentle, 60-degree branching, allowing for smooth blood flow and effective shear stress.
The other, based on those at higher risk for atherosclerosis, had a more abrupt branching angle. In this model, the vital swirling motions in the blood flow weakened quickly and failed to apply enough shear stress to the artery walls, making these areas more prone to plaque buildup.
Wild likens this to a hot, stagnant summer day in Washington D.C.: Instead of a refreshing breeze that keeps you cool, the air is still and oppressive.
Her findings could lead to a new, non-invasive way to screen for atherosclerosis risk. By measuring how blood pressure changes at these key points in the carotid artery, doctors could identify patients more likely to develop the disease.
Those identified as high-risk could then take early steps to manage their health, such as adopting healthier lifestyles or closer medical monitoring.
Wild’s research is a promising step toward understanding why some people are more prone to plaque buildup and could pave the way for early detection and better management of atherosclerosis.
By combining principles of mechanical engineering with medical science, she opens new doors in our fight against this silent but deadly disease.
If you care about health, please read studies that vitamin D can help reduce inflammation, and vitamin K could lower your heart disease risk by a third.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about new way to halt excessive inflammation, and results showing foods that could cause inflammation.
Copyright © 2024 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
