Fig 1.
3D printing files and characteristics of five different tracheal stent groups.
Reprinted under a CC BY license, with permission from Dr. Fergal Coulter, original copyright 2021.
Fig 2.
Mechanical properties of the stents with surface helix.
Compression test curves of personalized stents printed for the same rabbit with and without the surface helices. Mean + SD (n = 3).
Fig 3.
Standardized measurement in CT images to quantify stent migration.
Migration was measured on lateral and dorsal views. Red Arrow indicates the rostral end of the stent.
Table 1.
Measurement of stent position.
Stent migration was minimal and ranged between 0.245–0.634 cm in most (7/8) and 1.793 cm in only 1/8 rabbits.
Fig 4.
A sample showing mucosal indentations formed by the helix surface structure, revealing partial loss of the epithelial layer.
Parts in between the indentations remained intact providing normal healing/remodeling of the tracheal mucosa (sample of rabbit 107.31, that was excluded from the study because of unstandardized personalization process).