Quantifying stent-induced damage in coronary arteries by investigating mechanical and structural alterations.

Vascular damage develops with diverging severity during and after percutaneous coronary intervention with stent placement and is the prevailing stimulus for in-stent restenosis. Previous work has failed to link mechanical data obtained in a realistic in vivo or in vitro environment with data collected during imaging processes. We investigated whether specimens of porcine right coronary arteries soften when indented with a stent strut shaped structure, and if the softening results from damage mechanisms inside the fibrillar collagen structure.

Experimental and mathematical characterization of coronary polyamide-12 balloon catheter membranes.

The experimental quantification and modeling of the multiaxial mechanical response of polymer membranes of coronary balloon catheters have not yet been carried out. Due to the lack of insights, it is not shown whether isotropic material models can describe the material response of balloon catheter membranes expanded with nominal or higher, supra-nominal pressures. Therefore, for the first time, specimens of commercial polyamide-12 balloon catheters membranes were investigated during uniaxial and biaxial loading scenarios.

On the importance of modeling balloon folding, pleating, and stent crimping: An FE study comparing experimental inflation tests.

Finite element (FE)-based studies of preoperative processes such as folding, pleating, and stent crimping with a comparison with experimental inflation tests are not yet available. Therefore, a novel workflow is presented in which residual stresses of balloon folding and pleating, as well as stent crimping, and the geometries of all contact partners were ultimately implemented in an FE code to simulate stent expansion by using an implicit solver. The numerical results demonstrate that the incorporation of residual stresses and strains experienced during the production step significantly increased the accuracy of the subsequent simulations, especially of the stent expansion model.