Christopher Washington, MD
Post-Doctoral Fellow (2009-2011), Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Carnegie Mellon University
Hamburg Hall 1208
Email:  chriswas@andrew.cmu.edu
Dr. Washington received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2000. Prior to enrolling in medical school, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Radiology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, developing programs that enabled the conversion of digitized mammogram images. Following a five-month position in industry as a process engineer, Dr. Washington enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and during this time had a second significant research experience working as a research assistant in the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research of the Department of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Washington received his medical degree in 2006 and is currently a third year medical resident in general surgery at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), a part of the Western Pennsylvania Health System (WPAHS), one of the two major hospital systems in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region. He is currently an ICES Post-Doctoral Fellow conducting research in computational modeling of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Project Description

Abdominal aortic aneurysm wall stress is one of the primary biomechanical factors associated with rupture. Peak intraluminal pressure is thought of as the most important patient-based variable in predicting wall stress. In this project, we hypothesize that the primary biomechanical determinant of rupture potential is the non-uniform arterial wall thickness of the AAA. We will evaluate indicators of AAA rupture risk such as peak wall stress and strain, individual arterial pressure and spatial changes in aneurysmal wall thickness. We will obtain FEA predictions of wall mechanics for two population subgroups based on the use of a novel anisotropic constitutive material model for the arterial wall to evaluate the effects of the following factors in the computation of peak wall stress and strain: (i) uniform vs. non-uniform wall thickness distribution; (ii) 120 mmHg vs. individually measured peak systolic (cuff) pressure; (iii) treatment condition (electively repaired vs. watchful waiting) as judged by the aneurysm size at the time of initial diagnosis; and (iv) numerical modeling technique: FEA vs. FSI.

 

 

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