Review of biomechanical studies of arteries and their effect on stent performance

Abstract

Factors such as aging, atherosclerosis, hypertension, genetic defects and diabetes mellitus have been known to cause arteries to develop various shapes and characteristics in patients such as tortuosity, kinking, twisting, elongation, contraction, and curving. The change in artery mechanics can cause a variety of cardiovascular diseases among men and women. The improvement in technology and techniques has allowed access to different therapies such as balloon angioplasty or stenting. Stents are permanent implants that undergo repetitive deformations as a result of patient daily activities such as walking, flexing, sitting, climbing stairs, and getting into a car. Often, these deformations imposed on the stents result in stent failures. It is imperative that the biomechanics environment of the arteries causing stent failure is well understood and the stents be evaluated under multiple loading modes for increased life-cycle. As a result, this paper aims to summarize part of the available literature that reports studies on biomechanical environment in healthy and diseased arteries using various analytical methods.