A finite element analysis of tubular, diamond-shaped stent grafts under representative cyclic loading conditions for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair is presented. Commercial software was employed to study the mechanical behavior and fatigue performance of different materials found in commercially available stent-graft systems. Specifically, the effects of crimping, deployment, and cyclic...

Letter by Chalmers Regarding Article “Nitinol Stent Implantation Versus Balloon Angioplasty for Lesions in the Superficial Femoral Artery and Proximal Popliteal Artery: Twelve-Month Results From the RESILIENT Randomized Trial” To the Editor: The authors of the RESILIENT trial1 have adopted a trial design that by their own admission is controversial. They have randomly assigned patients to eithe...

Median sternotomy can be associated with significant morbidity, including non-union, dehiscence and mediastinitis. The use of flexible thermoreactive sternal clips has been introduced recently as an alternative method of sternal closure and is advocated in patients at increased risk of sternal breakdown. It is associated with a decreased incidence of sternal complications as well as allowing fa...

Surface treatment and sterilization are those critical protocols in the manufacturing of implant devices that can eventually predetermine the outcome of implantation. Biological performance of well characterized Nitinol surfaces (mechanically polished, chemically etched, aged in boiling water, heat treated, and electropolished) was evaluated using human peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation...

OBJECTIVE Postoperative deep sternal wound infection is a severe complication of cardiac surgery, with a high mortality rate and a high morbidity rate. The objective of this prospective study is to report our experience with the vacuum assisted closure (VAC) system for the management of deep wound infection. We also devised an innovative closure technique post VAC therapy using thermo reactive ...

PURPOSE Radioactive stents have been proposed as endovascular irradiation device to prevent in-stent restenosis by inhibiting neointimal proliferation. 32P-stents have been used in several studies so far, but require large-scale labeling procedures and endovascular barotrauma for stent expansion supporting the development of edge restenosis. Purpose of this study was to establish dosimetry of a...

Electrostatic endothelial cell seeding has evolved as an exceptional technique to improve the efficiency of cell seeding in terms of frequency of attached cells and the amount of cell adhesion for the treatment of vascular diseases. In the recent times, both untreated and superhydrophilic thin film nitinol (TFN) have exhibited strong prospects as substrates for creation of small-diameter endova...

PURPOSE To evaluate imaging characteristics and artifacts of a nitinol stent with distal tantalum markers with computed tomography (CT) angiography and magnetic resonance (MR) angiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS A vascular phantom was built to simulate in-stent restenosis. A nitinol stent with tantalum markers (Luminexx stent) was evaluated with CT angiography in different orientations relativ...

Background: The long-term primary patency rates for percutaneous transluminal angioplasty using first and second generation stents for the treatment of the popliteal artery have been disappointing. However, results with the new nitinol stents seem promising. Our objective was to evaluate short-term clinical outcomes using the superflexible nitinol stent in the treatment of atherosclerotic lesio...