Drug Particle Dynamics in the Two Different Simplified Stent Geometries

Drug-related issues are a new problem in the drug-eluting stents era. Delay in re-endothelialization of the arterial wall after percutaneous intervention suggests a necessity optimal drug release profile to achieve the desired drug concentrations in the stented arterial segment. The impact of blood advection on drug release and deposition was studied in this paper using pulsatile fluid dynamics analysis. The dimensions of stent used in are adopted from anatomical values of coronary artery, namely: a 3.0 mm inner diameter is selected, and a 3.0 mm external diameter stent (simplified geometry) was used. The obstruction generated by the presence of the struts induced a vortex zone of blood downstream of each stent strut. Drug particle distributions was determined by the dimension and intensity of the recirculation regions between stent struts. Consequently, drug concentration around the struts is correlated with the flow patterns in this regions.