A Medtronic Driver® (formerly S7) coronary stent and a severely occluded coronary artery are modeled.
The artery is simplified as a two-layered straight cylinder, with one layer representing the artery wall and the other representing the calcified plaque.
The following figure shows the general dimensions of the artery and stent:
Figure 25.2: Cross-sectional View of Unloaded Artery and Stent
Ra (inner artery radius) = 2.1 mm Rs (stent radius) = 1.75 mm Rp (inner plaque radius) = 1.6 mm Ro (outer artery radius) = 2.6 mm
A nonlinear static analysis is performed to simulate the three-step stenting procedure:
Expand the artery using elevated pressure (balloon angioplasty).
Place the stent.
Contract the artery using mean blood pressure and creating contact between the stent and the artery wall.