Coronary artery distensibility after stent implantation – an in vitro mock artery study based on optical coherence tomography

Abstract

The radial distensibility of the coronary arteries plays a critical role in maintaining physiological blood flow and wall shear stress distribution. Atherosclerosis as well as stent implantation alters the elastic properties, leading to a localized stiffening of the arterial segment. Within the current study we used silicone mock arteries to investigate the influence on stent implantation on coronary artery distensibility using a custom-made in vitro test setup based on a diameter measurement via optical coherence tomography (OCT). Therefore, pressure dependent measurements of the inner diameter of the mock vessel were performed in original state and after fixing a stent outside the mock artery to mimic ingrowth of the stent. Test results show, that the mock artery distensibility reduces down to 16 % with surrounding stent. The presented data provides essential input parameters for radial fatigue testing of stents.