Comparison between the mechanical behaviour of the human healthy AA and commercial prostheses under various mechanical loadings.

Standard chirurgical treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm involves the placement of tubular synthetic aortic prostheses. Most of these implants are made up of polyester textiles or porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. Normalised tests are dedicated to their assessment (ISO 7198:1998, cardiovascular implants and tubular vascular prostheses). However, such experiments are not sufficient to characterise the complete mechanical performance of these implants (Le Magnen et al. 2001) and to ensure their mechanical compatibility with the host artery. Thus, the design of mechanically compatible vascular prostheses still remains a challenge. Within this context, a full comparison of the mechanical behaviour of the human healthy abdominal aorta (AA) with commercial prostheses is proposed. An original numerical database on the mechanical behaviour of human AA subjected to variousmechanical loadings is first built and then compared with experimental data obtained from mechanical tests performed on prostheses.