Optimized design and biomechanical evaluation of biodegradable magnesium alloy vascular stents

Magnesium alloy, as a new material for vascular stents, possesses excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. However, the mechanical properties of magnesium alloy stents exhibit relatively inferior performance compared to traditional metal stents with identical structural characteristics. Therefore, improving their mechanical properties is a key issue in the development of biodegradable magnesium alloy stents. In this study, three new stent structures (i.e., stent A, stent B, and stent C) were designed based on the typical structure of biodegradable stents. The changes made included altering the angle and arrangement of the support rings to create a support ring structure with alternating large and small angles, as well as modifying the position and shape of the link. Using finite element analysis, the compressive performance, expansion performance, bending flexibility performance, damage to blood vessels, and hemodynamic changes of the stent were used as evaluation indexes. The results of these comprehensive evaluations were utilized as the primary criteria for selecting the most suitable stent design. The results demonstrated that compared to the traditional stent, stents A, B, and C exhibited improvements in radial stiffness of 16.9%, 15.1%, and 37.8%, respectively; reductions in bending stiffness of 27.3%, 7.6%, and 38.1%, respectively; decreases in dog-boning rate of 5.1%, 93.9%, and 31.3%, respectively; as well as declines in the low wall shear stress region by 50.1%, 43.8%, and 36.2%, respectively. In comparison to traditional stents, a reduction in radial recoiling was observed for stents A and C, with decreases of 9.3% and 7.4%, respectively. Although there was a slight increase in vessel damage for stents A, B, and C compared to traditional stents, this difference was not significant to have an impact. The changes in intravascular blood flow rate were essentially the same after implantation of the four stents. A comparison of the four stents revealed that stents A and C exhibited superior overall mechanical properties and they have greater potential for clinical application. This study provides a reference for designing clinical stent structures.