The Varying Porosity of Braided Self-Expanding Stents and Flow Diverters: An Experimental Study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Braided self-expandable stents and flow diverters of uniform construction may develop zones of heterogeneous porosity in vivo. Unwanted stenoses may also occur at the extremities of the device. We studied these phenomena in dedicated benchtop experiments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five braided devices of decreasing porosity were studied. To simulate discrepancies in diameters between the landing zones of the parent vessel and the aneurysm neck area, device extremities were inserted into silicone tubes of various diameters (2-3 mm), leaving the midportion free to react to experimental manipulations, which included axial approximation of the tubes (0-7 mm), and curvature (0-135 degrees), with or without axial compression (0-2 mm). The length of the landing zone was sequentially decreased to study terminal device stenosis. RESULTS: All devices adopted a conformation characterized by 3 different zones: bilateral landing zones, a middle compaction zone, and 2 transition zones. It is possible, during deployment, to compact stents and FDs to decrease porosity, but a limiting factor was the transition zone, which remained relatively unchanged and of higher porosity than the expansion zone. Length of the transition zone increased when devices were constrained in smaller tubes. Heterogeneities in porosity with compaction and curvatures were predictable and followed simple geometric rules. Extremity stenoses occurred increasingly with decreasing length of the landing zone. CONCLUSIONS: Braided self-expandable devices show predictable changes in porosity according to device size, vessel diameter, and curvature. Adequate landing zones are required to prevent terminal device stenosis.