Investigation of new polymer stent design with finite element method

Frequently used metal stents in cardiovascular diseases can lead to issues such as corrosion, infections, and restenosis, resulting in physical complications or potential patient mortality. To address these challenges linked to metal stents, there is a current emphasis on the development of alternative materials, including polymers. On the other hand, the development of polymer-based vascular scaffolds requires a new structural geometry, because these polymer materials have significantly less radial strength than metal alloys. For this reason, polymer stents are thicker, which reduces their flexibility. In this study, a new design for a polymer stent called a multi-thickness stent was presented, which has a variable thickness in the strut and bridge. Then, the flexibility of this stent was investigated using the finite element method. The results show that the multi-thickness stent has more flexibility than the constant-thickness stent. Then, in order to increase the contact surface of the multi-thickness stent with the vessel and reduce the pressure, an optimal design was presented for it. The multi-thickness stents are a creative design that provides a new approach to the personalization (patient-specific) of the stents.

Keywords:

Stent , Multi-thickness , Flexibility , Finite Element , Personalization