Computational fluid dynamics of NiTi stents for Cerebral Aneurysm prevention

Stents are significant medical devices broadly used in the prevention of cerebral aneurysm rupture. The performance of stents depends on their mechanical properties and cell configuration, thus, the aim of this study is the optimization of stent design and test the hemodynamic properties by using computational solid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics. In performance tests, computer-based cerebral aneurysm models of human brain were tested. closed-cell type was selected as the strut configuration, and nitinol was chosen as the material due to its flexibility. Three types of ideal samples with different cell configurations were manufactured. There were over 30% difference in results of flexibility in computational solid mechanics analysis. Moreover, in cerebral aneurysm model simulation, we investigated that stent insertion eased the hemodynamic factors of the cerebral aneurysm and reduced the flow velocity influx into the sac. A reduction in flow velocity led to a 50–60% reduction in wall shear stress, which is expected to aid aneurysm rupture prevention under clinical conditions.