Numerical Study on Flow-Adaptive Stents

Abstract:

Recently for the treatment of aneurysms, endovascular therapy with microcoils and stents has started. This study explores the design of better stents by means of numerical computations from the viewpoint of the fluid mechanics. Two-dimensional flows are numerically solved for a stented duct with a model of an aneurysmal sac by changing the distribution of stent filaments under the constraint of a constant porosity for the neck. Stents are assessed by whether the wall shear stress (WSS) on the aneurismal wall and the shear rate (SR) within the aneurysm are made lower. Barometers for the allocation of filaments are sought, and resultant optimized stents are those where filament(s) should be attached to both the distal and proximal wall of the neck, with more filaments to the distal wall, to make the WSS low, and filaments should be appropriately distributed in the off-wall portion of the neck to make the SR low.