Stent vs Stent Study by Means of Finite Element Method

It is well known that the stent design plays an important role in the outcome of the stenting interventional procedure. Thus, analyzing and comparing the behavior of different types of stent is essential to select the most appropriate stent design to use. Furthermore, assessing the behavior of stent is one of the components of the process in which new biomedical stent devices are designed and approved. Indeed, new stent designs have to be proved to be equivalent to an approved stent to be confirmed from the regulatory agencies. This sets the stage for a series of “stent versus stent” randomized trials designed to show that each newer stent design was not inferior to the prior approved stent. In this paper, finite element method is used to assess the behavior of stents. The objective of this work is to present a numerical alternative for “stent versus stent” complicated clinical studies. Three commercially available stents (the Palmaz–Schatz, Multi–Link and NIR stents) are modeled and their behaviors are compared. According to the findings, the possibility of restenosis is lower for Multi–Link and NIR stents in comparison with Palmaz–Schatz stent which is in good agreement with clinical results.