Biomechanics in vascular biology and cardiovascular disease.

Introduction Biodegradable stents have the potential to avoid long-term complications of conventional stents such as in-stent restenosis and late stent thrombosis, and could allow for a restoration of vasomotion and vessel growth which makes them suitable for e.g. paediatric applications [1]. To investigate the mechanics of this new type of stent via finite element simulations, we developed a numerical framework based on continuum damage mechanics, that is able to incorporate the stent’s complex time-varying material properties. As a proof of concept, we set up a virtual bench test to compare the mechanical behavior of a biocorrodible magnesium stent and a bioresorbable polymeric polylactic acid (PLA) stent.