Kolachalama VB, Levine EG, Edelman ER. Luminal flow amplifies stent-based drug deposition in arterial bifurcations.
Summary: Treatment of arterial bifurcation lesions using drug-eluting stents (DES) is now common clinical practice and yet the mechanisms governing drug distribution in these complex morphologies are incompletely understood. It is still not evident how to efficiently determine the efficacy of local drug delivery and quantify zones of excessive drug that are harbingers of vascular toxicity and thrombosis, and areas of depletion that are associated with tissue overgrowth and luminal re-narrowing.