The impact of strut profile geometry and malapposition on the haemodynamics and drug-transport behaviour of arteries treated with drug-eluting stents

What is it about?

Drug-eluting stents are small, wire mesh tubes with a therapeutic drug coating, which are placed inside narrowed arteries to help restore blood flow. It is shown in the present numerical study that negligible drug uptake occurs when there is no direct contact between a stent strut and the artery wall. A semicircle-profiled strut, with a drug coating only on the outer surface, is proposed as a way to minimise the adverse fluid dynamic phenomena which promote thrombosis, whilst enhancing drug uptake.

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