A novel method for fabricating deformable aortic dissection models and its application in interventional treatment assessment

Interventional procedure design and in vitro experimental studies for aortic dissection (AD) currently lack mature and effective modeling methods. In this study, a model of the true lumen and false lumen was reconstructed based on a patient with type B aortic dissection. 3D printing was utilized to model the true and false lumens of the aorta. A highly transparent aortic dissection model was produced using a newly developed four-step casting-spin-coating approach. The model was subsequently employed for in vitro stent deployment procedures in both the interventional operating room and laboratory. Under monitoring by a DSA system, the stent graft was successfully delivered via the femoral artery and deployed at the target site for covering the proximal tear. The silicone AD model, before and after stent treatment, was connected to an in-house pulsatile circuit to investigate the variations in pressure waveforms in both the true and false lumens. Experimental results showed that during the systolic phase, fluid flowed from the true lumen into the false lumen at both the proximal and distal ends, while during the diastolic phase, fluid flowed out of the false lumen. After stent treatment, the systolic index, defined as the ratio of the systolic pressure in the true lumen (TL) to that in the false lumen (FL), increased by 4.64% and 3.62% respectively at the proximal and distal ends, suggesting a favorable outcome for the AD treatment. This dissection model is believed to have significant clinical and scientific value in interventional surgery planning and in vitro visualization experiments.