title: Comparison of 15 different stents in superficial femoral arteries by high resolution MRI ex vivo and in vivo.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the MRI compatibility of 15 different commercially available, new generation, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved stents suitable for deployment in superficial femoral arteries (SFAs), and to identify the ones that permit MRI to visualize the wall and lumen of stented arteries with sufficient spatial and contrast resolution to quantify restenosis after stent placement.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 13 nitinol stents and two stainless-steel stents were placed in excised cadaveric SFAs and imaged by MRI at 1.5 T ex vivo. The images were evaluated qualitatively for the presence of artifacts and for the effects of the stent on image contrast, and quantitatively for the effect on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the lumen of the artery inside the stent compared to the SNR of the fluid outside the artery. A nitinol stent was placed in the SFA of a 60-year-old man and imaged at 1.5 T in vivo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the vessel wall and the lumen could be visualized in cadaveric SFAs containing either the Absolute nitinol stent, the Dynalink nitinol stent, or the aSpire nitinol-covered stent. Their inside stent/outside stent SNR was 0.7, 0.8, and 0.8, respectively. The other 10 nitinol stents tested obscured the lumen but did not cause major image shape artifacts. Both stainless-steel stents tested, the WallGraft and WallStent, completely obscured the lumen and caused significant distortion of the image shapes. When the Dynalink stent was inserted into a highly stenosed SFA in vivo, the image showed a dark expanded eccentric lumen, circumscribed by a medium intensity band containing the stent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRI can be used to visualize both the lumen and wall of SFAs containing selected nitinol stents ex vivo and in vivo. These results suggest that MRI can be used to monitor restenosis in stents placed in the femoral arterial bed.
authors.affiliation: Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Gareth J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Ulises
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Baltazar
authors.forename: Christof
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karmonik
authors.forename: Cassius
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bordelon
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ruth L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Bush
authors.forename: Alan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Lumsden
authors.forename: Joel D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Morrisett
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys; D016477:Artifacts; D002102:Cadaver; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D013193:Stainless Steel; D015607:Stents
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; D013193:Stainless Steel; C013616:nitinol