Computational analyses of intravascular stents

Nowadays, atherosclerotic artery diseases are commonly treated by implantation of intravascular stents. This technique has shown better performances than classical percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, even if some problems are still present in particular related to restenosis, which is the re-narrowing of the coronary artery after the treatment. In the last years many studies have been conducted to understand and try to prevent the causes of restenosis. In this context computational analysis has shown to be a proper and powerful tool as it enables the studying of many different situations, exploiting parametric analyses, and measuring important quantities difficult to know experimentally, as, for example, stresses and strains induced on the vessel during the stent implantation. This paper is devoted to show the potentialities of finite element analysis for studying and improving the mechanical behavior of stents and their interaction with the artery.