18 March 2024
16:15
Louvain-la-Neuve
Place Croix du Sud, auditorium SUD 09
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, characterized by the buildup of plaque within the arterial walls causing blood vessel narrowing, and is the primary cause of many cardiovascular diseases. Two of the main surgical treatments for atherosclerosis include synthetic vascular grafting and intravascular stenting. However, these treatments face many problems and need to be improved to reduce the number of people facing disability. Additionally, disease mechanisms and the native complex and heterogeneous 3D microstructure of vascular tissues are not yet well understood. X-ray microfocus computed tomography (microCT) emerges as a powerful imaging technique that delivers three-dimensional insights of complex structures in a non-destructive way. Enhanced further by the integration of contrast-enhancing staining agents (CESAs), the application of microCT has broadened to soft tissue imaging, or contrast-enhanced microCT imaging (CECT). This thesis is dedicated to the optimization and application of microCT and CECT to provide three-dimensional quantitative information on the native blood vessel wall of different types of blood vessels and in different species. This information is compared to the microstructure of currently used synthetic vascular grafts, highlighting the reason for the gap in functional behavior that still exists between native tissues and synthetic grafts. Finally, microCT and CECT are combined to study the in vitro and in vivo behavior of potential candidate materials to be used as biodegradable intravascular stents. The latter offer an alternative to currently used permanent stents, aiming to mitigate their long-term complications. This brings new insights into the degradation behavior and biological integration of different candidate metals for improved
biodegradable stents. The advanced imaging techniques and image processing tools described in this thesis, provide a better description of the native blood vessel wall and its microstructural constituents, and give insights into the development of optimized treatments for cardiovascular diseases.
Jury members :
- Prof. Greet Kerckhofs (UCLouvain, Belgium), supervisor
- Prof. Pascal Jacques (UCLouvain, Belgium), supervisor
- Prof. Eric Deleersnijder (UCLouvain, Belgium), chairperson
- Prof. Sandrine Horman (UCLouvain, Belgium)
- Prof. Laurent Delannay (UCLouvain, Belgium)
- Prof. Jeremy Goldman (Michigan Technological University, USA)
- Prof. Tríona Lally (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)