On The Design Of A Biodegradable POC-HA Polymeric Cardiovascular Stent

Abstract

The current state of the art in coronary stent technology is mainly populated by metallic stents usually coated with certain drugs to increase biocompatibility, even though experimental biodegradable stents have appeared in the horizon. To design stents from biodegradable polymers one must accurately characterize their mechanical behavior for analysis and optimization.This manuscript presents the process for evaluating the material properties for biodegradable biocompatible POC-HA polymeric composite, techniques for developing the stent models for finite element analysis, and development of material models for finite element analysis. The developed material models were utilized in finite element analysis to evaluate the suitability of the POC-HA material for coronary stent application. In addition, the advantages of using femtosecond laser machining to fabricate the POC-HA stent will be discussed. The methodology presented can be applied in the development of a biocompatible and biodegradable polymeric stent.