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| The
Vascular Simulator |
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(cf C8,
C9, C12, C21, C24, C29).
Over the last few years, new technologies were developed for
the treatment of arterial pathologies (atherosclerosis, abdominal
aorta aneurism). Considering post-surgery results and the benefit
of a greatly reduced trauma for the patient, industrials bias
their research on new arterial substitutes, which associate
a vascular prosthesis (Dacron or PTFE) and an endoprosthesis
(steel or shape-memory material). Numerous problems must be
solved in vitro before an animal -prior to a clinical- experimentation
is conducted.
In 1995, a test bench was realized in association with the
US company Intervascular, in order to control the mechanical
and hemodynamical behavior, as well as the technologies of introduction,
deploy and maintain and behavior of this material. This vascular
simulator "Artificial Man" includes a nearly complete arterial
tree, with the main arteries (coronary, aortic crook down to
femoral arteries), in an elastic and transparent material, the
polyurethane, which permits to mimic several configurations
of introduction of endovascular devices (aneurism, tortuous
iliac arteries, stenosis, variable lengths collar...). The mould,
kept in a 37°C thermostated enclosure, is inserted in an hydraulic
circuit, which reproduces the conditions of debt and physiological
pressure. The components of the both circuits (primary and secondary)
are alike those of the bench described on §1 : a volumetric
wheel pump driven by a hydrodynamic generator, and a synthesizer,
capacitive and resistive elements to simulate the properties
of the arterial bed. The bench is also fitted with specific
control means (flowmeter, pressure chain, endoscopic fiber,
radioscopy, video control) thanks to a European subsidy (FEDER). |
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| Vascular
simulator |
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| Components
of the Simulator's hydraulic circuit |
This tool is associated to a pedagogical dimension for the surgeons,
health care personal or industrials training to these new methods
or to specific materials. |
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| Tests
on the Vascular Simulator |
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The
point of this collaboration with the company Intervascular was
to optimize a new type of endovascular prosthesis for aneurism
of the abdominal aorta. This process consists in reconstructing
by endoluminal way the aorto-iliac bifurcation inside of the
aneurism, by using shape-memory endoprostheses covered by a
Dacron weave.
The simulator permits to mimic the moves of the pratician
with a high fidelity, from the supposed area of incision to
the final position of the stent. The main interests of this
mean of testing is to eliminate most of the preliminary in vivo
tests on animals, and also to perform experimentation which
are adaptable to their equipment and in reproductible conditions,
eventually on a long period. Many practical problems linked
to the introductory access, to the positioning, to the deploy
and the fixing of the endoprosthesis, and overall to the watertightness
of the system were solved thanks to this method. |
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