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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
Imaging In-Stent Restenosis: An Inexpensive, Reliable, and Rapid Preclinical Model
Published on: September 14, 2009
Acute stent recoil and optimal balloon inflation strategy: an experimental study using real-time optical coherence
Hideki Kitahara1, Katsuhisa Waseda, Ryotaro Yamada
1Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Aims:
Our aim was to evaluate stent expansion and acute recoil at deployment and post-dilatation, and the impact of post-dilatation strategies on final stent dimensions.
Methods And Results:
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was performed on eight bare metal platforms of drug-eluting stents (3.0 mm diameter, n=6 for each) during and after balloon inflation in a silicone mock vessel. After nominal-pressure deployment, a single long (30 sec) vs. multiple short (10 sec x3) post-dilatations were performed using a non-compliant balloon (3.25 mm, 20 atm). Stent areas during deployment with original delivery systems were smaller in stainless steel stents than in cobalt-chromium and platinum-chromium stents (p<0.001), whereas subsequent acute recoil was comparable among the three materials. At post-dilatation, acute recoil was greater in cobalt-chromium and platinum-chromium stents than in stainless steel stents (p<0.001), resulting in smaller final stent areas in cobalt-chromium and platinum-chromium stents than in stainless steel stents (p<0.001). In comparison between conventional and latest-generation cobalt-chromium stents, stent areas were not significantly different after both deployment and post-dilatation. With multiple short post-dilatations, acute recoil was significantly improved from first to third short inflation (p<0.001), achieving larger final area than a single long inflation, despite stent materials/designs (p<0.001).
Conclusions:
Real-time OCT revealed significant acute recoil in all stent types. Both stent materials/designs and post-dilatation strategies showed a significant impact on final stent expansion.
