It has been found that the incidence of cardiovascular disease in patients with lower limb amputation is significantly higher than that in normal people, and the risk of developing coronary atherosclerosis is much higher than that in other high-risk groups. Numerous studies have confirmed that high systolic and diastolic blood pressures are potential risk factors for coronary artery disease, and it has been demonstrated that the ascending aortic pressure during diastole increases after amputation. However, the relationship between lower limb amputation and coronary atherosclerosis has not been fully explained from the perspective of hemodynamic environment. Therefore, in this study, a centralized parameter model of the human cardiovascular system and a three-dimensional model of the left coronary artery were established to investigate the effect of amputation on the hemodynamic environment of the coronary artery. The results showed that the abnormal hemodynamic environment induced by amputation, characterized by factors such as increased diastolic pressure in the ascending aorta, led to a significant expansion of the low wall shear stress (WSS) region on the outer lateral aspect of the left coronary artery bifurcation during diastole. The maximum observed increase in the area of low WSS reached up to 50.5%. This abnormal hemodynamic environment elevates the risk of plaque formation in the left coronary artery. Moreover, the more severe the lower limb atrophy, the greater the risk of coronary atherosclerosis in amputees. This study preliminarily revealed the effect of lower limb amputation on the hemodynamic environment of the left coronary artery.
It has been found that the incidence of cardiovascular disease in patients with lower limb amputation is significantly higher than that in normal individuals, but the relationship between lower limb amputation and the episodes of cardiovascular disease has not been studied from the perspective of hemodynamics. In this paper, numerical simulation was used to study the effects of amputation on aortic hemodynamics by changing peripheral impedance and capacitance. The final results showed that after amputation, the aortic blood pressure increased, the time averaged wall shear stress of the infrarenal abdominal aorta decreased and the oscillatory shear index of the left and right sides was asymmetrically distributed, while the time averaged wall shear stress of the iliac artery decreased and the oscillatory shear index increased. The changes above were more significant with the increase of amputation level, which will result in a higher incidence of atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm. These findings preliminarily revealed the influence of lower limb amputation on the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, and provided theoretical guidance for the design of rehabilitation training and the optimization of cardiovascular diseases treatment.
Lower limb amputation is a significant change in body structure. Loss of muscle, blood vessels, and blood leads to a redistribution of blood flow and changes in resistance at the end of blood vessels. In view of the significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease after lower limb amputation, the mechanism of which is still unclear, this study aims to establish an animal research model that can verify and explore the effects of amputation on cardiovascular system, and provide the experimental basis for subsequent animal experiments when exploring the effect of different amputation levels on the cardiovascular system. SPF New Zealand rabbits were divided into normal group (n = 6) and amputation group (n = 6). The amputation group was treated with above-knee amputation. The changes of low-density liptein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC) in serum of all the rabbits were monitored regularly after the surgery. The arterial pathological examination was conducted after the experimental rabbits were executed. The results showed that compared with the normal group, serum LDL-C content and TC content in the amputation group were significantly increased (P<0.05); The blood vessels of the amputated rabbits had pathological changes such as degeneration and necrosis of smooth muscle cells in the middle membrane layer and rupture of elastic fibers. At the abdominal aorta and aortic arch, the elastic fiber area expression percentage (EFEP) of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the normal group. The results suggest that the cardiovascular system of rabbits has the tendency of decreased arterial elasticity and lipid deposition in blood after amputation, indicating that the animal research model on the effect of amputation on the cardiovascular system has been successfully established, and can provide an experimental platform for further study on the mechanism of the effect of amputation on the cardiovascular system.
Vascular injury resulting from lower limb amputation leads to the redistribution of blood flow and changes in vascular terminal resistance, which can affect the cardiovascular system. However, there was no clear understanding of how different amputation levels affect the cardiovascular system in animal experiments. Therefore, this study established two animal models of above-knee amputation (AKA) and below-knee amputation (BKA) to explore the effects of different amputation levels on the cardiovascular system through blood and histopathological examinations. The results showed that amputation caused pathological changes in the cardiovascular system of animals, including endothelial injury, inflammation, and angiosclerosis. The degree of cardiovascular injury was higher in the AKA group than in the BKA group. This study sheds light on the internal mechanisms of amputation’s impact on the cardiovascular system. Based on the amputation level of patients, the findings recommend more comprehensive and targeted monitoring after surgery and necessary interventions to prevent cardiovascular diseases.