An experimental assessment of catheter trackability forces with tortuosity parameters along patient-specific coronary phantoms

This study assessed the significance and correlation between the trackability forces for a coronary stent system with various geometrical parameters based on patient-specific geometries. A motorised delivery system delivered a commercially available coronary stent system and monitored the trackability forces along three phantom patient-specific thin-walled, compliant coronary vessels supported by a cardiac phantom model. The maximum trackability forces, curvature and torsion values ranged from 0.31 to 0.87 N, 0.06 to 0.22 mm–1 and –11.1 to 5.8 mm–1, respectively. The trackability forces were significantly different between all vessels (p < 0.002), while the tortuosity parameters were not significantly different (p > 0.05). A new tortuosity parameter–coined tracking curvature which considers the lumen radius as well as the curvature along the centreline was statistically different (p < 0.002) for all vessels and correlated with the trackability forces. There was a strong correlation between the cumulative trackability force and the cumulative tracking curvature. Tracking curvature could be used as a predictive clinical tool to aid stent delivery to the vicinity of the lesion.
Source: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research