Aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) may cause disabling claudicatio, due to progression of atherosclerotic plaque. Bypass surgery to treat AIOD has unsurpassed patency results, with 5-year patency rates up to 86%, at the expense of high complication rates (local and systemic morbidity rate of 6% and 16%). Therefore, less invasive, endovascular treatment of AOID with stents in both iliac limbs is the first choice in many cases, however, with limited results (average 5-year patency: 71%, range: 63-82%). Changes in blood flow due to an altered geometry of the bifurcation is likely to be one of the contributing factors. The aim of this study is to compare the geometry and hemodynamics of various aortoiliac stent configurations in vitro. Transparent vessel phantoms mimicking the anatomy of the aortoiliac bifurcation are used to accommodate stent configurations. Bare Metal Kissing stents (BMK), Kissing Covered (KC) stents and the Covered Endovascular Reconstruction of the Aortic Bifurcation (CERAB) configuration are investigated. The models are placed inside a flow rig capable of simulating physiologic relevant flow in the infrarenal area. Dye injection reveals flow disturbances near the neobifurcation of BMK and KC stents as well. At the radial mismatch areas of the KC stents recirculation zones are observed. With the CERAB configuration no flow reversal or large disturbances are observed. In conclusion, dye injection reveals no significant flow disturbances with the new CERAB configuration as seen with the KC and BMK stents.

Date Published: 12 March 2014
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9036, Medical Imaging 2014: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling, 90361X (12 March 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2042865

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9036:
Medical Imaging 2014: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling
Ziv R. Yaniv; David R. Holmes III, Editor(s)