Thoracic stents design

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As analyzed by World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases were the leading cause of death in 2012. Among various cardiovascular diseases, acute aortic dissection is the most common and life-threatening emergency that requires immediate attention. While traditional open surgical procedures remain the gold standard for treating aortic dissection, approximately 30% of the patients are unfit for surgical procedures due to various reasons. Type A aortic dissection occurs in roughly 62% of patients and has a high mortality rate of 26% (with surgery) and 56% (with medical treatment and without surgery); therefore, one potential alternative for treating aortic dissection is the endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) using thoracic stents. The main objective of this project is to numerically investigate the hemodynamics of existing available stent graft models with the focus on geometrical variance around ascending aorta. The investigation of the potential device design for thoracic aorta will be carried out by computational methods, which will be used as a rapid prototype design tool. In addition, patient-specific models will be studied to gain further insight on the hemodynamic variance under complex topography. A first-time collaboration will be established between Dr. Dana Grecov from the University of British Columbia and Agile MV to study and design new improved thoracic stents.