A Computational Study of the Effect of Stent Design on Local Hemodynamic Factors at the Carotid Artery Bifurcation

Authors

Nasrul Hadi Johari^{1, 2}, Mohamad Hamady^{3, 4,} , Xiao Yun Xu^{1, *,}

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

²Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia

³Department of Interventional Radiology, St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK

⁴Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK

^*Corresponding author. Email: yun.xu@imperial.ac.uk

DOI

10.2991/artres.k.200603.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Carotid artery stenting; hemodynamics; in-stent restenosis; computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Background: Previous clinical studies have shown that the incidence of restenosis after carotid and coronary stenting varies with stent design and deployment configuration. This study aims to determine how stent design may affect in-stent hemodynamics in stented carotid arteries by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

Methods: A robust computational method was developed to integrate detailed stent strut geometry in a patient-specific carotid artery reconstructed from medical images. Three stent designs, including two closed-cell stents and one open-cell stent, were reproduced and incorporated into the reconstructed post-stent carotid bifurcation. CFD simulations were performed under patient-specific flow conditions. Local hemodynamic parameters were evaluated and compared in terms of Wall Shear Stress (WSS), Oscillatory Shear Index (OSI) and Relative Residence Time (RRT).

Results: All simulated stent designs induced some degree of flow disruption as manifested through flow separation and recirculation zones downstream of stent struts and quantified by WSS-related indices. Compared to the simulated open-cell stent, closed-cell stents created slightly larger areas of low WSS, elevated OSI and high RRT, due to a greater number of stent struts protruding into the lumen.

Conclusion: Detailed stent design and patient-specific geometric features of the stented vessel have a strong influence on the evaluated hemodynamic parameters. Our limited computational results suggest that closed-cell stents may pose a higher risk for in-stent restenosis (ISR) than open-cell stent design. Further large-scale prospective studies are warranted to elucidate the role of stent design in the development of ISR after CAS.

HIGHLIGHTS

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  This study provides a detailed analysis of in-stent hemodynamics in post-stenting carotid arteries under patient-specific anatomical and flow conditions.

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  Three different carotid stents are modelled and virtually implanted into a carotid artery bifurcation reconstructed from computed tomography images.

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  Results from this study offer more insights into the differences in hemodynamic measures between open- and closed-cell stents, which are essential for evaluating the risk of in-stent restenosis.

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  The computational method used in this study offers a useful tool for future improvement and optimisation of carotid stent designs.

Copyright

© 2020 Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nasrul Hadi Johari
AU  - Mohamad Hamady
AU  - Xiao Yun Xu
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/06/07
TI  - A Computational Study of the Effect of Stent Design on Local Hemodynamic Factors at the Carotid Artery Bifurcation
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 161
EP  - 169
VL  - 26
IS  - 3
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/artres.k.200603.001
DO  - 10.2991/artres.k.200603.001
ID  - Johari2020
ER  -