A Phenomenological Model of Corrosion in Biodegradable Metallic Stents

Coronary stents are tiny scaffolds that are used in the treatment of heart disease. A new generation of metallic stents that dissolve in the body when no longer required have shown promise in a number of clinical applications. However, one of the primary challenges in developing such a stent is maintaining adequate control over the rate at which it dissolves. A model that is capable of representing corrosion induced material degradation in a finite element framework is being developed. Such a model will prove useful in predicting the lifetime of biodegradable metallic stents in vivo.