Examination method of uncoated coronary stents

Abstract

In this study the authors show a complex examination method which allow to determine the basic features of stents on one stent as possible.These tests have three big parts as non-destructive tests transforming tests and destructive tests. The non-destructive contains optical microscope, metallographic microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations; while the mechanical part contains tests by tensile machine and hardness measurement on the sample. Based on these procedures the recoil the crossing profile the MSA the foreshortening were measured or calculated and the flexibility the trackability the retention and the hardness weremeasured and determined.We also defined the place of the measurement of the X-Ray visibility (radiopacity) and the radial stiffness in the row of tests.In this study we used two commercially available coronary stents for verify the test methods, one of the stents contain a Ta layer for a better X-Ray visibility. Our aim was to define and find the position, depth and the importance of this special layer.This article focuses on the features of stent design that make a specific stent more or less suitable for a particular type of lesion or anatomy.