Effect of Photoactivated Cross-Linking Compound on Mechanical Properties of Porcine Carotid Arteries Post-Angioplasty

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is a medical procedure performed on patients with severe atherosclerosis to open up stenosed blood vessels by inflating a balloon at the narrowing location. In many cases of PTA, restenosis occurs post-surgery due either to elastic behavior of the artery, also known as elastic recoil in medical literature, or to plaque reformation within the lumen. For that reason, stents are commonly deployed to keep the arterial lumen open. Stent deployment causes problems in some cases; for example, the presence of stents in arteries with frequent movements and large deformations can cause ruptures in the arterial wall. Recent studies on 1,8-Naphthalimide organic compounds have shown that when these compounds are activated using a certain wavelength of light, it causes cross-linking between the components of the extracellular matrix. This observation has led to studies with the goal of developing a method to utilize this process to replace stents for cases with limiting conditions for stent deployment. In this study we focused on measuring and quantifying the effects of this compound on the mechanical properties of treated arteries undergoing PTA under a variety of loading conditions.