IMPROVED MEDICAL TREATMENT OF SERIOUS
HEART PROBLEMS
FOCUS OF UH-LED GROUP
AAAS Symposium in Seattle to Explain ‘Optimal
Stent Design for Cardiovascular Interventions’
HOUSTON (Feb. 16, 2004) – Suncica Canic, University of Houston
mathematics professor, and her research group are presenting new
findings related to the medical treatment of two serious heart problems
at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
annual meeting in Seattle at 8 a.m. P.S.T., Monday, Feb. 16.
The main goal of her work is to help cardiologists gain deeper
insight into the behavior of vascular prostheses, called stents,
used in the treatment of aortic abdominal aneurysm (AAA) and in
coronary angioplasty.
The project is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration
Canic initiated between experts in cardiology, mathematics, biology,
engineering and scientific computing to work on several problems
related to the medical treatment of AAA and the treatment of coronary
artery disease (CAD).
“Mathematical equations can be used to describe various physical,
biological and physiological phenomena,” Canic said. “Interaction
between mathematics, engineering, biology and medicine has existed
for a long time, but it has been only recently that state-of-the-art
computer technology and scientific computing enabled true collaboration
and full benefits to all the involved disciplines, as well as now
bringing it to the human application stage. This is the first time
in history that many complicated functions of the human body can
not only be approximated with complicated mathematical equations,
but also that solutions to those equations that cannot be found
by hand can be calculated and visualized using super powerful computers.”
One of the main focuses of the AAAS conference’s “Symposium
on Optimal Stent Design for Cardiovascular Interventions,”
led by Canic, will be to address the complicated set of problems
in the mathematical and computer simulation of various cardiovascular
diseases. In addition to Canic, who is the founder of this group,
the other scientists involved in this interdisciplinary endeavor
include Drs. Zvonko Krajcer and Michael Grad, interventional cardiologists
at the Texas Heart Institute; Dr. Doreen Rosenstrauch,
expert in genetic engineering and hemocompatibility at the
Texas Heart Institute; and Dr. Ravi-Chandar, associate director
of the Research Center for Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Materials
at UT-Austin.
CAD is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the
United States and in Europe, with approximately 12.8 million Americans
suffering from CAD and nearly 500,000 of them dying from heart attacks
caused by CAD each year. Stents are stainless steel or nytinol mesh-like
tubes used to keep clogged coronary arteries open. A non-surgical
treatment of CAD involves a revascularization or angioplasty procedure
during which a stent is deployed in the artery by either expansion
by a balloon or by a self-expanding delivery design. Various complications
that include restenosis (re-narrowing) of the treated coronary artery
are known to occur following the procedure. Lowering the restenosis
rates by improved stent design is one of the goals of this group’s
research.
In the treatment of AAA, stents are used to direct the flow of
blood through the middle of the aneurysm without touching the thin
walls of the aneurysm sac whose rupture can be fatal. Complications
of non-surgical treatment of AAA, such as stent migration, are known
to occur in nearly 40 percent of procedures. By thoroughly investigating
causes for the complications following non-surgical treatment of
AAA, this group has developed several ideas about stent design that
would minimize these complications.
The group’s new products include genetically engineered cartilage
cell-coated stents (stent grafts) for the treatment of CAD and stents
with novel mechanical properties that closely mimic the behavior
of human arteries for the treatment of both CAD and AAA. These products
could not have been obtained just a few years ago because many of
the techniques used in the study rely on the most up-to-date bioengineering
technology and on mathematical techniques that have only recently
been developed.
Detailed descriptions of the problems and their solutions will be
presented in this symposium. Krajcer and Grad will discuss actual
patient cases and complications following non-surgical treatment
of AAA. Chandar will cover optimal mechanical properties of stents
for non-surgical treatment of AAA. Canic will explain blood flow
though the stented aneurysm and optimal design of two-sleeved stents
for non-surgical treatment of AAA. Rosenstrauch will finish with
genetically engineered cartilage cell-coated stents for the treatment
of coronary artery disease.
For more information about the American Association
for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, visit
http://www.aaas.org/meetings/index.html.
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For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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