Hemodynamic study of overlapping bare-metal stents intervention to aortic aneurysm

To investigate the hemodynamic performance of overlapping bare-metal stents intervention treatment to thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA), three simplified TAA models, representing, no stent, with a single stent and 2 overlapped stents deployed in the aneurismal sac, were studied and compared in terms of flow velocity, wall shear stress (WSS) and pressure distributions by means of computational fluid dynamics. The results showed that overlapping stents intervention induced a flow field of slow velocity near the aneurismal wall. Single stent deployment in the sac reduced the jet-like flow formed prior to the proximal neck of the aneurysm, which impinged on the internal wall of the aneurysm. This jet-like flow vanished completely in the overlapping double stents case. Overlapping stents intervention led to an evident decrease in WSS; meanwhile, the pressure acting on the wall of the aneurysm was reduced slightly and presented more uniform distribution. The results therefore indicated that overlapping stents intervention may effectively isolate the thoracic aortic aneurysm, protecting it from rupture. In conclusion, overlapping bare-metal stents may serve a purpose similar to that of the multilayer aneurysm repair system (MARS) manufactured by Cardiatis SA (Isnes, Belgium).