intravascular optical coherence tomography (oct) as an additional tool for the assessment of stent structures

Evaluation of the vascular stent position, shape and correct expansion has a high relevance in therapy and diagnosis. Hence, the wall apposition in vessel areas with differing diameters and the appearance of torsions or structural defects of the implant body caused by catheter based device dropping are of special interest. Neurovascular implants like braided flow diverter and laser cut stents consist of metal struts and wires with diameters of about 40 µm. Depending on the implants material composition, visibility is poor with conventional 2D X-ray fluoroscopic and radiographic imaging. The metal structures of the implants also lead to artifacts in 3D X-ray images and can hamper the assessment of the device position. We investigated intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a new imaging tool for the evaluation of the vascular stent position, its shape and its correct expansion for 3 different vascular implants.