Tube hydroforming simulation to analyze structural integrity of stent, balloon and artery during crimping and angioplasty

Resumo

The increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases and the study of the angioplasty procedure have generated many research on stent development. In order to contribute to this field of research, this work aims to analyze the complete process, beginning with the crimping of the stent up to the implantation on the artery, using tube hydroforming simulation by the Finite Element Method. In this context, it will be simulated in this paper the procedures of crimping and angioplasty of artery with fat plaque. The objective of this study is to analyze the structural integrity of the expanded stent and the artery after the implantation process. One advantage of this methodology is the possibility to verify the regions of the artery and stent subjected to the thinning and wrinkling in each step of the procedure. The obtained results proved that the tube hydroforming simulation by finite elements applied to the angioplasty process can help the stent designer or the cardiologist to analyze and optimize the balloon and stent design.