Vascular Response to Experimental Stent Malapposition and Under-Expansion.

Up to 80% of all endovascular stents have malapposed struts, and while some impose catastrophic events others are inconsequential. Thirteen stents were implanted in coronary arteries of seven healthy Yorkshire pigs, using specially-designed cuffed balloons inducing controlled stent malapposition and under-expansion. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging confirmed that 25% of struts were malapposed (strut-wall distance