TMI has developed a novel research program to study the coronary vasculature through the creation of high resolution polymer casts of cadaveric hearts with sub millimeter branch details. These models are used to collect quantitative data on the local geometry of bifurcations including the left main bifurcations in the human coronary vasculature. In addition, the casts are used to classify and quantify any disease present in the cadaveric vascular beds. These efforts have revealed a wide range of main vessel and side branch bifurcation diameters as well as multi-scale asymmetric ostial geometry transitioning from the main vessel to the side branch.
Preliminary findings from this ongoing research were reported at the 2007 annual meetings of the European Bifurcation Club (EBC) and Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) by Mary Russell, MD, FACC, Eitan Konstantino, PhD, and Gary Binyamin, PhD.
Future programs include male versus female analysis of casts, correlation to clinical findings and validation of commercial imaging modalities (such as QCA).
TMI has developed a breakthrough method of using finite element analysis (FEA) in the design of all of its products. FEA is a powerful mathematical method that enables numerical analysis of physical processes in various fields such as structures, thermal and flow. An FEA model of TMI's stent is created based on the original 3D geometry designed in the CAD (Computer Aided Design) software.
The complete physical process of crimping the stent and deploying it into a blood vessel using semi-compliant balloon is simulated. The simulation utilizes high power, multi processors computers and allows the prediction of the stent behavior at all stages of the process thereby providing an in depth understanding of its performance. TMI is able to analyze the effects of vascular geometry and hemodynamics, such as blood flow velocity and shear, on the stent. TMI uses this method routinely to improve its stent design and fatigue life and to gain better physical understanding of the process.
