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.
Objective To investigate the correlation of intracranial arachnoid cyst (IAC) with epilepsy and the possible mechanism of seizure induced by IAC. Methods Patients with IAC, who were treated in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 2009 and January 2019, were included and divided into IAC with epilepsy group and IAC without epilepsy group according to whether they were diagnosed with epilepsy. We collected the IAC location information of all subjects after the establishment of a three-dimensional spatial coordinate system of MRI images. Computational fluid dynamics technology was used to establish a blood vessel model in cyst area and perform hemodynamic analysis basing on contrast-enhanced CT images. Results A total of 72 patients were enrolled, including 24 in the IAC with epilepsy group and 48 in the IAC without epilepsy group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of sex, age, IAC location, the volumes or the maximum diameters of IAC (P>0.05). Consecutive areas formed by the seven high-risk areas found in the IAC with epilepsy group were located in the temporal area. The seven high-risk areas were simultaneous IAC location in 5 patients in the IAC with epilepsy group and in 1 patient in the IAC without epilepsy group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=5.114, P=0.024). Comparison of the hemodynamic parameters between the two types of vascular models revealed similar pressure changes and blood pressure parameters, with lower blood flow and higher mean vascular wall shear stress in the IAC with epilepsy group. Conclusions IAC may cause epilepsy by increasing adjacent blood vessel stenosis and blood vessel wall shear stress through cyst space-occupying effect. The most common location of IAC with epilepsy is the temporal area. The occupying effect of IAC should be considered in the location of epileptogenic foci before surgery for IAC patients with epilepsy.
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.