Development of Gold Stents for the Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms: An Experimental Study in a Canine Model
Takashiro Ohyamaa,
Takuji Nishideb,
Hiroo Iwatac and
Waro Takia
a Department of Neurosurgery, Mie University School of Medicine, Mie, Japan
b Kaneka Corporation, Osaka, Japan
c Department of Reparative Materials, Field of Tissue Engineering, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University
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FIG 1. Schematic representation of the method used to prepare the gold stent.
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FIG 2. A, In vitro vascular model for cerebral arteries.
B, Schematic illustration of the experimental system used for measuring trackability.
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FIG 3. Scanning electron microscopy of the gold stent disclosed that a nearly even thickness was uniformly produced.
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FIG 4. Results of trackability measurements. The gold stent demonstrated much less radial force and greater flexibility than the stainless steel stents.
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FIG 5. Stent implantation.
A, Stent implantation (gold and stainless steel stents) in a canine model. A gold stent (arrow) was placed in the right distal external carotid artery, and a stainless steel stent (arrowhead) was placed in the left proximal external carotid artery. The radiopacity of the gold stent is superior to that of the stainless steel stent.
B, Stent implantation (gold stents) in canine bilateral vertebral arteries. Gold stents (arrows) were placed in a row in the bilateral vertebral arteries.
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FIG 6. Angiographic findings. Follow-up angiography performed 2 weeks after the stent placement shows good patency at each stented site (A, external carotid arteries; B, vertebral arteries). There is some deformation of both gold and stainless steel stents.
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FIG 7. Histologic findings of the vessel segments treated with gold stents. Histopathologic examination confirms the angiographic findings. The lumen of the stented artery is quite patent. Some endothelial hypertrophy is recognized around the struts of the stent (arrowhead). There are also artifacts in that the struts of the stent separate from the intima at the time of extraction (arrows).
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