Math from the Heart: Simulating Stent Design and Coating (VIDEO)
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University of Houston mathematician "Sunny" Canic builds computer models to study stents -- tiny mesh tubes used to hold blood vessels open. Her simulations could improve patients' health by helping manufacturers optimize stent design and helping doctors choose the best stent for a specific procedure. Supported by a joint grant from the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Science Foundation, Canic has examined the designs of several stents on the market. She found that stents with fewer horizontal rods flex easily, making them ideal for curvy coronary arteries. She also used the model to design a stent tailored to an experimental heart valve replacement procedure. Canic and a collaborator in Croatia did all of this by creating a simplified computer model that approximates stents as one-dimensional rods. Traditional models use a cumbersome three-dimensional stent structure. Canic is also using computer models to see if coating stents with ear cartilage would lower the risk of scarring and clotting after stent placement. She simulates different blood thicknesses and flow forces to see how well the cartilage cells stick to the stent surface. That tells her cardiologist collaborators what conditions to test in follow-up experiments. Even as her teammates put the results of her simulations into practice, Canic says the most rewarding part of her work is using math to solve real-world problems.
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Produced by Stephanie Dutchen National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health
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