Review of Experimental Investigations on Compressibility of Arteries and Introduction of a New Apparatus

Arterial tissue incompressibility is a common notion used in numerical simulations and analytical studies. However, only a few experimental investigations have been performed to characterize arterial tissue incompressibility. Such studies have used various approaches, ranging from the initial purely mechanical measurements in 1954 to the more recent image-based analyses (2004). The results of these studies are rather diverse because different arteries have been tested (human/dog/mouse, carotid/pulmonary/iliac). This has therefore made accurate comparisons between studies challenging. In the first part of this report, a review of the experimental investigations on the compressibility of arteries is presented, with particular focus on the test rigs that have been used. In the second part of this report, a novel simple apparatus to test samples under physiological or supra-physiological conditions is described. Recommendations for a testing procedure are also provided. Finally, preliminary results on porcine renal arteries indicate significant levels of compressibility are possible (>10 %), thereby suggesting the need for further investigation.