MICHAEL O'DONNELL BEng MIEI
PhD Research Postgraduate (2003-2006)

e: michael.odonnell@ul.ie

t: +353-61-202471

Michael O’Donnell graduated with a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Limerick in 2003. After obtaining work experience in the engineering field with PWA International he decided to switch the focus of his degree to the up-and-coming field of biomedical engineering. His specialist area was in the arterial mechanics of arterial reconstructions. He then carried this forward as his primary research interest and he now studies the arterial wall mechanics of the femoral-popliteal bypass – primarily the distal anastomoses.

PhD Project Title: Intramural Stress and Strain of the Femoral Distal Bypass Junction

Atherosclerosis is a disease of the arteries which commonly affects the coronary and the carotid arteries. But it can affect any artery of the body including the femoral artery, the main artery of the thigh, supplying blood to the groin and lower extremity. During the disease process fatty plaques build up on the wall of the artery eventually occluding blood flow to the rest of the leg this can result in claudication and eventual tissue deterioration distal to the occluded area. Grafts are used to bypass the affected area and restore blood flow to the lower extremity, but the graft junction can become occluded itself within the next 3 – 7 years. Current research is being carried out in search of the factors affecting restenosis of the anastomoses and hence try and improve these poor patency rates. Research into atherogenesis show that increased blood flow induces enlargement of the vessel diameter while pressure overloading induces vessel wall thickening and decreased vessel diameter. Observing the failure mechanisms of arterial reconstructions, particularly at the femoral distal anastomotic region, suggests that internal blood pressure and the non-physiological geometry of the anastomoses itself have a more significant role than previously thought.

The image above is from a Finite Element Analysis of an idealized femoral-popliteal distal anastomoses. The image highlights the circumferential stress component at the anastomoses at the peak systolic pressure with a scaled deformation.