|Publication number||US7094254 B2|
|Application number||US 10/163,465|
|Publication date||22 Aug 2006|
|Filing date||7 Jun 2002|
|Priority date||20 Jun 1997|
|Also published as||CA2297777A1, CN1261261A, DE69825162D1, DE69825162T2, EP0989830A1, EP0989830B1, US6641605, US20020198591, WO1998058599A1|
|Publication number||10163465, 163465, US 7094254 B2, US 7094254B2, US-B2-7094254, US7094254 B2, US7094254B2|
|Original Assignee||Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (19), Referenced by (6), Classifications (22), Legal Events (3)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention relates to an intravascular implant permitting radial dilatation of the arterial walls. These implants or dilatators are known as “stents” in the field of transluminal angioplasty. Transluminal angioplasty consists in treating diseased regions of the arterial system by the introduction of apparatus, particularly catheters, along natural routes. This permits localized intervention without having to have recourse to conventional surgical interventions which have, because of their seriousness, numerous drawbacks for the patients. This technique is particularly used when a constriction or stenosis of the arteries is diagnosed. There is then introduced through the femoral artery a catheter provided at its distal end with an inflatable angioplasty balloon. This catheter is then pushed and guided, with radioscopic monitoring, through the arterial system to the diseased region of the artery. Once this region is reached, the balloon is inflated to dilate the constricted region of the artery. This operation is repeated until it is determined, with the help of the radioscopic monitoring means, that the artery again has a diameter sufficient to ensure an acceptable blood flow. These interventions however have certain drawbacks. Thus, clinical observations show that in about a third of the cases treated, the artery again retracts over a period of time comprised between several days and several months. This phenomenon, which is called “restenosis”, requires a new intervention in the diseased artery either by the same method, or by more serious surgical techniques.
In an effort to solve this problem, it has been proposed to implant permanently in the artery dilatators or “stents” to avoid repeated contraction. These implants usually have a tubular structure open at its ends so as not to disturb the blood flow. These devices, independently of their particular structures, generally have the following characteristics: they are radially extensible from a first diameter, permitting their introduction into the artery with the help of a catheter, to a second larger diameter corresponding substantially to the diameter of the artery. After dilatation of the artery, they are implanted in this latter and bear against the internal wall of the artery, thereby preventing, by a mechanical action, a new constriction of the artery. Once implanted, these stents have a certain resistance to radial compression and thus maintain the artery open whilst permitting blood flow. In practice, stents of two different types are used at present. The first are deformed by inflation of a balloon during their emplacement; the second stents are so-called auto-extensible. The auto-extensible stents do not require external mechanical action to pass from a first diameter during introduction, to a second larger diameter in the service position. This effect is obtained either by the use of material having a shape memory, such as Nitinol (trademark), or by a spring effect. There has also been proposed, for example by European patent EP-433 011 B1, a stent which comprises a radioactive isotope which tends to decrease the phenomenon of restenosis by radiotherapy. In other embodiments, the surface of the stent, in contact with the internal wall of the artery or the vessel, has a suitable surface treatment permitting the local distribution of antithrombogenetic chemical substances.
These devices, although having contributed to the decrease in the rate of restenosis, have nevertheless not totally solved the problem. Thus there is seen, in about 22% of the cases treated by angioplasty and the implantation of a stent, a tissue reaction which leads to increase the thickness of the internal layer of the artery. If this phenomenon is not stabilized and continues to increase, the artery becomes plugged again.
The present invention has for its object to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above, by providing a dilatation implant promoting the decrease in the rate of restenosis, in particular by its action on the internal wall of artery. Another object of the invention consists in the use of such a device to increase the shear stress at the blood/wall interface in an artery or a blood vessel. Finally, the invention also has for its object a process permitting the increase of shear stress at the level of the arterial wall. The stent according to the present invention is distinguished for this purpose by the below.
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show schematically and by way of non-limiting example, one embodiment of an intravascular stent according to the invention.
Scientific studies, confirmed by critical observations, have shown that restenosis is attributed to a cellular proliferation of the intimal tissue, called intimal hyperplasia. The mechanisms of this reaction are not entirely understood at present. However, it is certain that the prevention or reduction of intimal hyperplasia constitutes a key element in the success of the treatment of stenosis or arterial occlusions. It has been determined in animals that intimal hyperplasia is reduced when the blood flow is high in the vessel in question. On the other hand, when this flow rate is low, the intimal layer increases. The same determination has been made by cardiologists and radiologists, who have observed that following an angioplasty, the stents remain open if the flow rate is high and that they have the tendency to plug in the presence of a low blood flow rate. There exists as a result a certain relationship between the blood flow rate and intimal hyperplasia. This fact is confirmed by several medical studies which tend to show that intimal hyperplasia is not a pathological process, but rather an adaptive response of the artery or the vessel which remodels itself so as to maintain or to restore the optimum level of shear stress at the wall.
The passage of blood in an artery creates by friction forces on the internal wall of the artery. When the flow rate is high, the shear stresses are high on the endothelial cells of the artery wall. These forces are on the contrary low in the presence of an insufficient flow. It is moreover known that the shear stress at the internal wall is directly proportional to the flow (Q) and inversely proportional to the cube of the arterial diameter. It results from this that when the perfusion flow rate is low, intimal hyperplasia reduces the diameter of the artery so as to restore the normal value of the stress. If a low flow rate persists, or if progressively diminishes, the normal shear stress cannot be reestablished and intimal hyperplasia continues, leading finally to restenosis. On the contrary, if the flow is sufficient to reestablish a stress level equal or even superior to the normal stress, intimal hyperplasia stops and the artery remains permanently open.
It results from the above determinations that to stop and block intimal hyperplasia, it is necessary to increase locally the shear stress at the wall, particularly when the flow rate is low. The object of the invention is particularly to permit a substantial local increase of the shear stress at the wall.
Given that the blood flow rate cannot be increased locally, because it is automatically controlled by the organism through resistances which constitute the peripheral vessels, it is necessary as a result to decrease locally the open crosssection of the artery such that the value of the shear stress on the arterial wall increases. To this end, it is proposed to position and to maintain in position, preferably at the center of the artery, at least one body, i.e., a control element, which will act as a deflector of the blood flow on the arterial wall. This flow deflector will thus permit substantially increasing locally the shear stresses on the endophilial cells.
By double integration, there is obtained
By applying the limit conditions u(r=r1)=u(r=r0)=0, then by deriving, there is obtained the final expression for the speed distribution
The flow rate Q can then be calculated by simple integration
The shear stresses acting on the arterial wall τ are given by
which by using equation 3 for u(r) becomes (5)
Equation 6 can also be expressed as a function of the flow rate Q by using equation 4 for the pressure gradient
So as better to appreciate the effect of the deflector 1 on the magnitude of shear, this latter is normalized by shear stresses under laminal flow of the Poiseuille type for the same flow as in an open artery. For a flow of the Poiseuille type, it is known that:
There is also obtained the following expression:
It is thus possible to define the ratio of the deflector/artery radii as a parameter
to reformulate equation 9 in a non-dimensional form:
The dependence of shear relative to the parameter Δ is shown in
Thanks to the presence of a cylindrical body at the center of the artery, giving rise to a deflection of the blood flow, the shear stress at the wall is significantly locally increased. This body, by reason of its dimensions, does not greatly decrease the blood flow.
To minimize the phenomenon of intimal hyperplasia, as has been mentioned in the introductory portion of the description, there is envisaged a local therapeutic action either by surface treatment permitting local distribution of an anti-restenosis substance, or by radiotherapy. These techniques can easily be applied to the stent according to the present invention. It thus suffices to provide a suitable surface treatment of the spirals 4 in contact with the arterial wall. The cumulative effect of an increase in shear stresses at the wall is thus combined with a radiotherapeutic or chemically therapeutic action. It will be noted that not only the portions directly in contact with the arterial wall can have suitable surface treatment, but also the deflector 3.
It is evident that the stent according to the present invention can have other shapes, the essential characteristic remaining in the presence of a flow deflector increasing the shear stress at the internal wall of the artery and maintained in position in the artery, preferably centered in this latter. In particular, the stent could have the form of a tubular body open at its two ends and comprising at its center a cylindrical body connected in a flexible manner to the external tubular body.
In certain cases, it is not desired to leave the stent permanently in the artery. To this end, certain stents are made of biodegradable materials. These materials can of course be used to make a stent according to the present invention.
The process which permits locally increasing the shear stress at the wall of a vessel or an artery comprises the following steps. There is introduced with a catheter and a wire guide an intravascular stent of the type described above to the diseased region of the artery to be treated. During the passage of the stent through the arterial system, this latter has a diameter approximately identical to that of the catheter. The stent is then emplaced by separating this latter from the catheter; during this operation, the spirals 4 of the stent extend radially and bear against the internal wall of the artery. Finally the catheter is withdrawn, then the wire guide.
It will further be noted that the stent which is the object of the present invention is easy to produce and can be packaged with a catheter, such that it is directly usable by the practitioner.
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|U.S. Classification||623/1.15, 623/1.1, 623/903, 606/198|
|International Classification||A61F2/86, A61F2/06, A61F2/00, A61F2/02, A61F2/01|
|Cooperative Classification||Y10S623/903, A61F2002/016, A61F2230/0006, A61F2/01, A61F2/86, A61F2210/0004, A61F2002/068, A61F2210/0095, A61F2250/0067, A61F2230/0091, A61F2230/008|
|European Classification||A61F2/01, A61F2/86|
|29 Mar 2010||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|22 Aug 2010||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|12 Oct 2010||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 20100822