In-Stent Restenosis Progression in Human Superficial Femoral Arteries: Dynamics of Lumen Remodeling and Impact of Local Hemodynamics

In-stent restenosis (ISR) represents a major drawback of stented superficial femoral arteries (SFAs). Motivated by the high incidence and limited knowledge of ISR onset and development in human SFAs, this study aims to (i) analyze the lumen remodeling trajectory over 1-year follow-up period in human stented SFAs and (ii) investigate the impact of altered hemodynamics on ISR initiation and progression. Ten SFA lesions were reconstructed at four follow-ups from computed tomography to quantify the lumen area change occurring within 1-year post-intervention. Patient-specific computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed at each follow-up to relate wall shear stress (WSS) based descriptors with lumen remodeling. The largest lumen remodeling was found in the first post-operative month, with slight regional-specific differences (larger inward remodeling in the fringe segments, p