A Fast Virtual Stenting Simulation Framework For Lattice-Based Flow Diverter Stent Design Exploration and Evaluation

Stroke is one of the leading cause of death in the world. Hemorrhagic stroke is a type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain, most likely due to the rupture of an aneurysm. An increasingly popular treatment treatment option for the prevention of aneurysm rupture is the use of flow diverter (FD) stents. As it’s name suggests, this intravascular implant is inserted to a patient’s blood vessels where it is then deployed in the parent vessel of a target aneurysm, thus limiting the blood flow towards the aneurysm and decreasing the risk of rupture. In order to help with the design exploration and performance evaluation of these devices, a simulation framework that allows users to easily input FD designs using a lattice-based representation which will then be deployed virtually in a blood vessel model is proposed. This virtual stenting framework is tested on three FD designs (helical, Enterprise stent-like, and hexagonal) deployed in various vessel models using a commercially available laptop. It is found that the proposed simulation framework requires only seconds of simulation run-time, where the full workflow (case setup to FD model rendering) can be done within minutes. The proposed simulation framework are based on fully open source resources and thus provide great flexibility for collaborative FD design exploration and evaluation.