Rigid Phantom Model for Aortic Anatomy Simulation

The rigid phantom model mimicking a straight aortic neck was designed with Solid Works SP3 software (Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., Vélizy, France). The branches were constructed of modular detachable components and manufactured of a transparent PolyJet photopolymer (VeroClear; Stratasys, Eden Prairie, Minnesota) by 3-dimensional printing with the Objet260 Connex3 printer (Stratasys) at the University of Twente (Enschede, The Netherlands) with an accuracy of ≤3 µm. The anatomical characteristics of the in vitro model, such as diameters and aortic branch angles, were based on average human anatomy.^{5 (link),6 (link)} The phantom model had an inner aortic diameter of 26 mm and branch diameters of 6 mm. The aortic branch angles were 45°, 60°, and 90° (Figure 1).