An acute ischaemic stroke appears when a blood clot blocks the blood flow in a cerebral artery. Intra-arterial thrombectomy, a mini-invasive procedure based on stent technology, is a mechanical available treatment to extract the clot and restore the blood circulation. After stent deployment, the clot, trapped in the stent struts, is pulled along with the stent towards a receiving catheter. Recent clinical trials have confirmed the effectiveness and safety of mechanical thrombectomy. However, the procedure requires further investigation. The aim of this study is the development of a numerical finite-element-based model of the thrombectomy procedure. In vitro thrombectomy tests are performed in different vessel geometries and one simulation for each test is carried out to verify the accuracy and reliability of the proposed numerical model. The results of the simulations confirm the efficacy of the model to replicate all the experimental setups. Clot stress and strain fields from the numerical analysis, which vary depending on the geometric features of the vessel, could be used to evaluate the possible fragmentation of the clot during the procedure. The proposed in vitro/in silico comparison aims at assessing the applicability of the numerical model and at providing validation evidence for the specific in vivo thrombectomy outcomes prediction.

Posterior fixation with contoured rods is an established methodology for the treatment of spinal deformities. Both uniform industrial preforming and intraoperative contouring introduce tensile and compressive plastic deformations, respectively, at the concave and at the convex sides of the rod. The purpose of this study is to develop a validated numerical framework capable of predicting how the fatigue behavior of contoured spinal rods is affected by residual stresses when loaded in lordotic and kyphotic configurations. Established finite element models (FEM) describing static contouring were implemented as a preliminary simulation step and were followed by subsequent cyclical loading steps. The equivalent Sines stress distribution predicted in each configuration was compared to that in straight rods (SR) and related to the corresponding experimental number of cycles to failure. In the straight configuration, the maximum equivalent stress (441 MPa) exceeds the limit curve, as confirmed by experimental rod breakage after around 1.9 × 105 loading cycles. The stresses further increased in the lordotic configuration, where failure was reached within 2.4 × 104 cycles. The maximum equivalent stress was below the limit curve for the kyphotic configuration (640 MPa), for which a run-out of 106 cycles was reached. Microscopy inspection confirmed agreement between numerical predictions and experimental fatigue crack location. The contouring technique (uniform contouring (UC) or French bender (FB)) was not related to any statistically significant difference. Our study demonstrates the key role of residual stresses in altering the mean stress component, superposing to the tensile cyclic load, potentially explaining the higher failure rate of lordotic rods compared to kyphotic ones.