Abstract
Balloon expandable stents can be used to treat coronary stenosis. During stent implantation, X-ray imaging is used. In order to assist the doctors, it was decided to improve the cardiovascular stents’ X-ray absorption ability by placing a unique marker in the stent strut. Tantalum powder, with 98% purity and 3-10 μm grains diameter, was used as the stent integrated marker. The stents were laser cut from a 1.81 mm external diameter stainless steel tube. The integrated marker was made by laser ablation, micro-welding and cutting. The X-ray absorption ability of the stent struts with and without markers was compared and a new analyzing method was created by which the volume of the stent integrated marker can be determined. The stent integrated tantalum powder increased the stent’s local X-ray visibility by 0.73%. A new index-number was introduced using which the stent’s X- ray absorption ability can be estimated at the stent’s planning stage.
Highlights
Heart diseases are one of the leading causes of death in developed countries
The X-ray absorption ability of the stent struts with and without markers was compared and a new analyzing method was created by which the volume of the stent integrated marker can be determined
After placing the tantalum powder in the reservoirs, these can be closed by laser micro-welding using a 400 μm diameter laser beam and 300 mJ energy in Argon shielding gas atmosphere
Summary
Heart diseases are one of the leading causes of death in developed countries. One of the most common methods of treating coronary stricture is to use stents. The metal base material, coating and geometry of the stents can greatly vary [1,2]. In Europe at present the most commonly used stent base materials are austenitic stainless steel, cobalt chromium and platinum chromium alloys [2,3]. In order to improve the stent implantation procedure for doctors, markers are used to increase X-ray absorption. Its advantage is that it supports the precision of stent implantation, follow-up and identification [4,5]
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