The aortic wrap: an experimental and computational investigation of a device-based method for reduction of arterial pressure

Age-related aortic stiffening is a major determinant of isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) and is mainly due to mechanical fatigue-induced deterioration of elastin in the aortic wall. The aortic wrap (AW), a proposed method to restore aortic distensibility, is a highly distensible implantable device secured around the ascending aorta (AA): by decreasing the AA diameter (D), the pulsatile load is transferred from the collapsed AA wall to the AW, thus enabling aortic pulse pressure (PP) reduction. This thesis aims to evaluate the efficacy of the AW in increasing distensibility and decreasing PP and systolic pressure.