Biomechanical and histological data from abdominal aortas harvested in autopsy

This data article describes biomechanical and histological information of abdominal aortas harvested in autopsy. Eight abdominal aorta aneurysms (AAA) and 30 normal diameter abdominal aortas were collected and submitted to an inflation test up to their rupture. This inflation procedure was part of the research entitled “Experimental study of rupture pressure and elasticity of abdominal aortic aneurysms found at autopsy”, submitted to Annals of Vascular Surgery. The rupture borders and control samples (harvested from places other than the rupture site) were submitted to uniaxial destructive tensile test and to histological analysis. The following variables were evaluated in the biomechanical test: failure stress, failure tension and failure strain. The histological processing of the samples enabled a quantitative analysis of the percentage of coverage of collagen fibers and elastic fibers in the samples. The present data could be reutilized because they are experimental evidence that cadaveric abdominal aortas, even when previously stressed by inflation, conserve significant resistance against tearing comparable to no previously stressed aortas described in the literature. Considering real whole cadaveric AAAs are especially scarce, this information would be a useful reference source for further in-depth research in the aortic biomechanics field.