Figure 1.
ML Frontier™ stent in porcine coronary artery.
Immediately after excisement the ML Frontier™ stents were implanted in fresh vascular bifurcation tissue in the porcine heart samples.
Figure 2.
Assessment of the stent length.
2D measurement (panel A) and 3D visualization (panel B) of stent length by micro-CT.
Figure 3.
Assessment of the stent opening diameters and areas.
Diameters were measured by aligning the z-axis with the centreline of the stent looking exactly perpendicular into the stent lumen (panel A, panel B). Panel C depicts the measurement of the side branch opening area (SBA). Measurements were performed in multiplanar reformation (MPR) mode.
Figure 4.
Comparison of stent dimensions between autopsy hearts, porcine model and data given by the manufacturer.
Proximal stent diameters (PD) were significantly smaller in human autopsy heart samples than in porcine heart samples (P = 0.048) and than those given by the manufacturer (P = 0.014). The mean stent length was smaller in human autopsy hearts than in porcine heart samples (P = 0.32), and also significantly smaller than that given by the manufacturer (P = 0.015). Side branch diameters (SBD) and distal stent diameters (DD) did not differ significantly.
Table 1.
Micro-CT analysis of stent diameters, opening areas and stent length.
Figure 5.
Comparison of stent areas between autopsy hearts, porcine model and data given by the manufacturer.
Proximal stent opening areas (PA) were significantly smaller in autopsy human heart samples than in porcine heart samples and than those given by the manufacturer. Side branch opening areas (SBA) and distal stent opening areas (DA) did not differ significantly.
Figure 6.
3D Visualization of the ML Frontier™ stent after expansion.
Adequate expansion of distal opening (panel A) and inadequate expansion of the proximal stent opening (panel B).