Experimental Flow Studies on Carotid Artery Models with and without Stents

Stents in carotid arteries are used for patients with high risk factors. This procedure however comes sometimes clotting and also restenosis. The flow disturbance influences the clotting and restenosis dramatically. Therefore we studied the flow behaviour of two covered stent, which were positioned differently and compared the velocity distribution with the measurements in an healthy carotid artery model. The covered stents were positioned from the common caroted artery (CCA) in to the internal carotid artery (ICA). The flowrate change and the velocity distribution was measured with a laser-Doppler Anemometer. The stents influenced the flow behaviour significantly. The flow rate ratio changed from 70:30 to 80:20 for the better positioned model.