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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

Sec. Biomechanics

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1643750

Optimization of braided stent design for cerebral aneurysms: The role of wire cross-sectional geometry

Provisionally accepted
Aohua  ZhangAohua Zhang1Xinru  LiXinru Li1Zhengbiao  YangZhengbiao Yang1Yutang  XieYutang Xie1Tao  WuTao Wu1Xue  YanruXue Yanru1Yanqin  WangYanqin Wang1Yongwang  ZhaoYongwang Zhao2Weiyi  ChenWeiyi Chen1Chenming  SunChenming Sun3Jinzhu  YinJinzhu Yin3Meng  ZhangMeng Zhang1*Xiaogang  WuXiaogang Wu1Xuesong  LiXuesong Li3*Yonghong  WangYonghong Wang4*
  • 1College of Artificial Intelligence, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
  • 2Shanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Taiyuan 030001, China
  • 3Central Laboratory of Sinopharm Tongmei General Hospital, Datong 037003, China
  • 4Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030032, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Flow-diverting stents are crucial for aneurysm treatment, with their structural design significantly impacting post-implantation hemodynamics. While clinically effective, opportunities remain to enhance their flexibility, flow diversion capability, and long-term safety through ongoing structural optimization. In this study, with Pipeline Embolization Device (PED) as a reference, four kinds of flow-diverting stents with different braided cross-section shapes (quadrilateral, hexagon, octagon, and decagon) were designed under the condition of keeping the amount of material constant. Firstly, pure bending loads are applied to each stent through finite element analysis, and its flexibility is evaluated by analyzing the torque-angle curve. Secondly, the computational fluid dynamics method was utilized to simulate the hemodynamic characteristics after the implantation of each stent. The results show that: (1) Under the condition of bending 60°, the decagonal stent has the best flexibility, followed by the quadrilateral one. (2) The overall blood flow distribution of stents with different cross-sections is similar, but there are differences in the local average flow velocity of the tumor cavity: the circular one is the highest, and the quadrilateral one is the lowest. (3) The wall pressure gradient change of the polygonal stent is gentler than that of the circular one. Among them, the wall pressure of the hexagonal and decagonal stents is the maximum and the average pressure in the cavity is the lowest. (4) The area of the low WSS region on the aneurysm wall is the largest in quadrilaterals and the smallest in circles. On the maternal artery segment, the hexagon is the largest and the quadrilateral is the smallest. Comprehensive comparison shows that quadrilateral and decagonal cross-section stents exhibit better comprehensive performance. Through the above research, theoretical support can be provided for the optimal design of flow-diverting stents structures.

Keywords: :Aneurysm, flow-diverting stents, Hemodynamics, Structure optimization, Finite Element Analysis

Received: 09 Jun 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Li, Yang, Xie, Wu, Yanru, Wang, Zhao, Chen, Sun, Yin, Zhang, Wu, Li and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Meng Zhang, College of Artificial Intelligence, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Xuesong Li, Central Laboratory of Sinopharm Tongmei General Hospital, Datong 037003, China
Yonghong Wang, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030032, China

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