Parametric description, analysis, and optimization of the connector shape in balloon-expandable stents

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Device Design
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Vascular stents are crucial for treating vessel blockages.
• Stent geometry and connector design significantly impact mechanical performance and therapeutic efficacy.
• Optimizing these features is essential for enhancing stent function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a parametric-optimization framework for designing continuous stent connectors.
• To develop an efficient modeling approach for complex connector geometries.
• To identify optimal stent designs that meet specific mechanical performance targets.

Main Methods:

• Utilized quintic polynomial splines for efficient modeling of complex stent connectors.
• Employed a data-driven approach (Kriging + Expected Improvement criterion) for design optimization.
• Analyzed optimal designs based on maximizing key stiffness and compliance metrics.

Main Results:

• Developed an efficient parametric model for stent continuous connectors.
• Identified optimal connector designs that enhance mechanical properties like stiffness and compliance.
• Demonstrated the framework's ability to meet target mechanical performance criteria.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework offers a novel and efficient strategy for vascular stent parametric design.
• This approach facilitates the fabrication of improved vascular stents with tailored mechanical properties.
• The methodology can be extended to optimize the design of entire stent structures.