On the Role of Luminal Flow and Interstrut Distance in Modelling Drug Transport from Half-Embedded Drug-Eluting Stent
A model for investigating the transport of drug from a half-embedded drug-eluting stent (DES) is developed. Keeping the relevance of the physiological situation in view, the luminal drug transport is considered as an unsteady convection-diffusion process, while the drug transport within the arterial tissue is supposed to commence as a diffusion process. The Marker and Cell (MAC) method has been used to handle numerically the governing equations of motion for the luminal flow and the drug transport through the lumen and the tissue. The effects of quantities of significance such as Reynolds number (Re), Womersley number (α) and interstrut distance on the transport of drug through both the lumen and the tissue are quantitatively investigated. Our simulation predicts that the mean concentration of drug increases with the decreases of Reynolds number and with an increase in the Womersley number. The present results also predict a single peak profile of drug concentration when the pair of struts are placed one-half strut width and also as the interstrut distance increases, distinct peaks form over each strut.
