Guiding the Setup of Clinically Meaningful Test Methods Using Computational Modeling

Contemporary drug eluting stents (DES) are designed and tested such that they will endure under in vivo fatigue loading after implantation. However, DES fractures have occasionally been reported in the literature and are often associated with restenosis and/or thrombosis events long after DES deployment. This observation indicates a need for fatigue test methods which appropriately compare the fatigue resistance of various DES platforms at loading levels beyond clinical relevance.