The development of a numerical mass transport model for cardiovascular drug elution

Coronary artery disease is a condition that results in the partial or complete occlusion of coronary arteries. There are a number of treatments available for the condition and stenting has become the prevailing technique adopted. Drug eluting stents are coated with drugs that inhibit the vessels over aggressive healing response to the introduction of the stent. This reduces the need for repeat procedures. The purpose of this paper was to examine the progressive development of mass transport patterns in idealistic drug eluting stent models. A qualitative and quantitative analysis was carried out on 4 idealistic artery sections. The position of the strut in the models develops from a bar in cross flow to a circumferential stent strut and finally successive embedded stent struts. A transient analysis was carried out on each of the models in this study. The numerical solution of the governing equations used the finite volume method. Confidence in the mesh was achieved with a grid independence study. The effect of flow recirculation on the mass transport downstream of the stent struts is investigated. An increase in vessel wall concentration was observed as the model complexity increases.