Investigation of Drug Eluting Stents Performance Through in silico Modeling

Coronary artery disease is one of the most dominant factors of mortality worldwide. The stenting procedure has been adopted as an effective means of blood flow restoration in the diseased part of the artery. Producing improved clinical outcomes compared to Bare Metal Stents (BMSs), Drug-eluting stents (DESs) have been widely accepted in the field of cardiovascular intervention. In this study, through the BioCoStent in silico stent deployment platform, three different stents (two DESs and one BMS) are comparatively analyzed with respect to the prediction and assessment of their mechanical performance in realistic, patient specific arteries. The results demonstrate the nearly identical behavior for all stents, with minor differentiations. The differences in the results are attributed to the incorporation of the thin drug-eluting coating on the metal core of the stent, eventually inducing an insignificant increment in the post-deployment stresses. Furthermore, the strut peaks, the end rings of the scaffolds and the stenosed part of the arteries experience the highest stresses.