Design of non-equal-strut stent hoops for structural optimization of thoracic aortic stent-grafts

Abstract

Background

Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) with stent-grafts is used widely for the treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA). Inappropriate design of stent-grafts may lead to complications such as endoleak, stent-graft migration and new entries, causes of which may be inappropriate radial support force or insufficient longitudinal flexibility of the stent-grafts.

Material and methods

To improve the mechanical performance of the stent-grafts, a type of non-equal-strut stent hoops was proposed, and the influence of structural parameters on the mechanical performance was studied.

Results

Results of numerical simulation and physical experiments show that by using the proposed non-equal-strut stent hoops, radial support force and longitudinal flexibility of stent-grafts can be reconciled and balanced.

Conclusion

Results of this study could be used to facilitate radial force control and longitudinal flexibility enhancement in the design of aortic stent-grafts.

Keywords:

• Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR)
• stent-grafts
• structural design
• radial force
• longitudinal flexibility

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the funding of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission [grant number: 17441901300].