3D graphical models for vascular-stent pose simulation

Stents are playing an increasing role in the treatment of arterial stenoses and aneurysms. The goal of this work is to help the clinician in the pre-operative choice of the stent length and diameter. This is done by embedding a model of the stent within a real 3D vascular image. Two models are used. First, a simple geometrical model, composed of a set of circles or polygons stacked along the vessel centerline, is used to simulate the introduction and the deployment of the stent. Second, a simplex-mesh model with an adapted cylindrical constraint is used to represent the stent surface. Another axially constrained simplex-mesh deformable model is used to reconstruct a 3D vessel wall. We simulate the interaction between the vessel wall and the stent by imposing the condition that the model of the vessel locally fits the shape of the deployed stent model. Preliminary quantitative results of the vessel reconstruction accuracy are given.