New stent design for percutaneous aortic valve replacement.

Vascular support structures are an important tool for treating valve stenosis. A large population of patients are treated for valvular disease and the principal mode of treatment is the use of percutaneous valvuloplasty. Stent devices are proving to be an improved treatment method; these devices now account for 20% of treatments in Europe. This new technology provides highly effective results at minimal cost and with reduced hospital stays. Accurate and reliable structural analysis provides essential information to the design team in an environment where in vivo experimentation is extremely expensive or impossible. This paper describes the design of a new vascular support structure (stent), to provide designers with estimates of the critical parameters which are essential. Stainless steel stents are preferred to be used as balloon-expanded prostheses as they are cost-effective.