Preparation of Explanted Coronary Stents for Investigation of Material Properties

The most commonly used treatment method for coronary artery disease is stent deployment, because it has several advantages against the traditional heart surgery. The long-term follow-up of coronary stents is necessary, yet nearly three decades since the first stent was implanted in a human coronary artery and still a few publications deal with in vitro investigation of material properties of stents after their in vivo life. This work covers the preparation process of coronary artery stents explanted from human cadavers for further research. To determine the dissolution method several carotid arteries, coronary arteries and new stents were used. After evaluating the stereomicroscope, SEM and EDS results eight explanted artery segment were dissolved from twelve implanted stents.