Stent Geometry Reconstruction Using Imaging Techniques

Stents are most commonly used in the relief of coronary artery stenosis, but in the last decade have found increasing applications in the treatment of other cardiovascular disease and in particular in heart valve replacement [1]. In transcatheter valve implantation, acquisition of high temporal and spatial resolution images during stenting procedure and patients’ follow-up is required to help the correct positioning of the device and to assess the mechanical performance over time. The imaging techniques routinely used for this purpose are 2D X-ray fluoroscopy and 3D computed tomography (CT), and recent studies have demonstrated their value as diagnostic tools [1–3]. However, these image modalities carry errors and the resulting information might not be accurate enough to be employed in engineering analyses of stent deformations, mechanics, dynamics and fracture. In this study, we aim to evaluate the errors of conventionally used clinical images (fluoroscopy and CT) and post-processing by comparison with ultra-high resolution micro-CT (μCT) as gold standard. Additionally, an optical image acquisition method and a high-radiation CT scan were evaluated as potential techniques to acquire geometrical data that could be used for computational and in-vitro engineering experiments.