Experimental study of blood laminar flow through a stented artery

The objective of this research is to study the blood flow close to the wall of a stented artery. Indeed, previous works have showed that the restenosis phenomenon is induced by the endothelial cells stimulation due to the wall shear stress values. The coronary angioplasty is responsible of wall shear stress modification, mainly between the stent struts, at the inlet and the outlet of the endoprothesis. That is why, to study the flow disturbances through a stented section, we built an in vitro model reproducing the struts shapes of a marketed endoprothesis. The experimental artery is composed of a seethrough square section vein, which reproduce the struts design with a magnitude of 100. A programmable pump provide a steady or a pulsatile flow. By using the velocimetry per imagery of particle (PIV) optical method we have explored the flow between and over the stent branches, in order to assess and to quantify the wall shear stress and to locate the interesting zones. KeywordsStent, endoprothesis, coronary artery, restenose, wall shear stress, endothelium cell.