State-of-the-Art Review on Finite Element Analysis Applied to Ultrathin-Strut Drug-Eluting Stents: Examining the Present and Looking Ahead to the Future

Figure 1. Flowchart.

Figure 2. Current characteristics of UtS-DES with very low crossing profile. Months, mths; PCL, poly-caprolactone; PLGA, poly-D, L-lactide-co-glycolide; PLLA, poly-L-lactic acid; proBIO, amorphous hydrogen-rich silicon carbide; PVP, poly vinyl pyrrolidone. The thickness of the strut is manufactured using cobalt chrome. * B.Braun, Melsungen, Germany; ** Biotronik Bülach, Switzerland; *** Sahajanand Medical Technologies, Surat, India; † mm (crossing profile, avaiable diameters and length).

Figure 3. Current characteristics of UtS-DES with low crossing profile MiStent SES. mths, months; n.a, not applicable; PLLA, poly-L-lactic acid. The thickness of the strut is manufactured using cobalt chrome. * MiCell Technologies, based in Durham, NC, USA. MIstent Elixir Medical.

Figure 4. Current characteristics of UtS-DES with low crossing profile; PLGA: poly-D, L-lactide-co-glycolide; PLLA: poly-L-lactic acid. The thickness of the strut is manufactured using cobalt chrome. * Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Vapi, Gujarat, India; † mm (crossing profile, avaiable diameters and length).

Figure 5. (a) The bioresorbable UtS-DES System is coated with a film of e-PTFE. (b) The UtS-DES model incorporates sirolimus and biodegradable polymers (PLLA or PLGA or PHAs).

Figure 6. The biomechanics of the permanent implantation of the MiStent device, developed by SES-Elixir Medical Corporation of the USA, are outlined herein. (A) Stress–strain behavior for PLLA used in simulations. y, yeld stress MPa; x, strain %. (B) 3D models. (C) Procedure of stent crimping [120]. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 19 July 2026), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, as well as a link to the Creative Commons license. No changes have been made to the images [139].

Figure 7. (A) The von Mises stress (MPa) contour plot for Elixir (MiStent SES-Elixir Medical Corporation, USA) stent in a fully crimped configuration. (B) The MPa contour plot Elixir after springback [120]. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 19 July 2026), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, as well as a link to the Creative Commons license. No changes have been made to the images [139].