Quantification of Biomechanical Interaction of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Stent Deployed in Porcine and Ovine Hearts

Success of the deployment and function in transcatheter aortic valve replacement is heavily reliant on the tissue–stent interaction. The present study quantified important tissue–stent contact variables of self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve stents when deployed into ovine and porcine aortic roots, such as the stent radial expansion force, stent pullout force, the annulus deformation response and the coefficient of friction on the tissue–stent contact interface. Braided Nitinol stents were developed, tested to determine stent crimped diameter vs. stent radial force from a stent crimp experiment, and deployed in vitro to quantify stent pullout, aortic annulus deformation, and the coefficient of friction between the stent and the aortic tissue from an aortic root–stent interaction experiment. The results indicated that when crimped at body temperature from 26 mm to 19, 21 and 23 mm stent radial forces were approximately 30–40% higher than those crimped at room temperature. Coefficients of friction leveled to approximately 0.10 ± 0.01 as stent wire diameter increased and annulus size decreased from 23 to 19 mm. Regardless of aortic annulus size and species tested, it appeared that a minimum of about 2.5 mm in annular dilatation, caused by about 60 N of radial force from stent expansion, was needed to anchor the stent against a pullout into the left ventricle. The study of the contact biomechanics in animal aortic tissues may help us better understand characteristics of tissue–stent interactions and quantify the baseline responses of non-calcified aortic tissues.