PURPOSE One of the current challenges for the medical device industry is how to manufacture and assemble biomedical implants consisting of a metallic wire component and a fluorocarbon film without the use of an adhesive. In an attempt to answer this question, samples of Nitinol wire and fluorinated ethylene-propylene (FEP) film were surface modified by various treatments before being thermally ...

OBJECTIVE Kissing stents (KS) are commonly used to treat aortoiliac occlusive disease, but patency results are often lower than those of isolated stents. The Covered Endovascular Reconstruction of the Aortic Bifurcation (CERAB) technique was recently introduced to reconstruct the aortic bifurcation in a more anatomical and physiological fashion. The aim of this study is to compare the geometric...

OBJECTIVE Nitinol stenting could bring the better outcome in endovascular therapy for femoropopliteal disease. However, it might be expected that recent marked advances in both device technology and operator technique had led to improved efficacy of balloon angioplasty even in this segment. The aims of this study were to evaluate the clinical impact of balloon angioplasty for femoropopliteal di...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Previous studies have depicted arterial and aneurysmal anatomy with three-dimensional time-of-flight (3D-TOF) MR angiography before and after treatment with Guglielmi detachable coils (GDCs) and with CT angiography before and after treatment with stents and stent-grafts. We investigated the ability of time-resolved contrast-enhanced 3D MR angiography (3D MR digital subtra...

The influence of deformation temperature on mechanical properties of Shape Memory and Superelastic NickelTitanium (Nitinol) alloys has been studied and is well documented. In determining the effectiveness of a device when it is deployed and maintained under strain at ambient or body temperature, both the material properties and the environments encountered by the final device must be taken into...

The superelastic material Nitinol, a nearly equiatomic alloy of nickel and titanium, is rapidly becoming one of the most important metallic implant materials in the biomedical industry, especially for the fabrication of endovascular stents. The manufacture of these stents, and countless other Nitinol products, originates from various forms of raw material such as tube, sheet or rod. However, de...

INTRODUCTION Self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) are a nonsurgical option for treatment of malignant colorectal obstruction also as a bridge to surgery approach. The new nitinol conformable stent has improved clinical outcomes in these kinds of patients. We report a pilot experience with nitinol conformable SEMS placement as bridge to surgery treatment in patients with colorectal obstruction. ...

Stent implantation in vascular access for haemodialysis has grown up in the last few years. Nine percent of percutaneous transluminal angioplasties (PTA) performed in 2001 on haemodialysis accesses was associated with stent implantation, according to the United States Renal Data System 2003 annual data report [1]. Furthermore, graft longevity is improved when stenoses are treated with stents in...

Nowadays Nitinol structures are accepted and highly exploited in the medical field. Therefore, studying the mechanical properties of this material—which is not trivial by considering the thermal behaviour of the alloy—is very important in order to get quantitative data for a reliable design of novel Nitinol components. In particular, this study focuses on the design optimization of superelastic...

PURPOSE Deep sternal wound complications after cardiac surgery have an incidence of 2 to 8% and carry a significant mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of thermo-reactive Nitinol clips on the incidence of postoperative deep sternal wound complications. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 1119 consecutive patients that underwent major cardiac surgery via median sternoto...