Deformations During and Post Stenting of a Diseased Coronary Artery Phantom: An In Vitro Study

World-wide, deaths from cardiovascular diseases exceed those caused by cancer, infectious disease and trauma [1]. Coronary stenting is an established treatment for patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease. Although stents reduce restenosis rates in carefully selected lesions, in-stent restenosis remains a recognized clinical problem. Restenosis, defined as “the arterial healing response after injury during transluminal coronary revascularisation” [2], has been the principal drawback of coronary stenting since its conception nearly 30 years ago [3]. While there have been many studies on the short and long term effects of coronary artery stenting, less is known of the injury caused by the balloon and stent during the stenting process. The objective of this study is to fabricate compliant and morphologically realistic models of the right coronary artery (RCA) for preclinical bench-top testing of intraluminal stents, in diseased cases.