Corrosion testing of stents: A novel fixture to hold entire device in deployed form and finish

Stainless steel and nickel-titanium alloy stents for cardiac, biliary, and prostatic clinical applications may be susceptible to loss of mechanical in tegrity/failure due to their small size and unique geometry. Because their corrosion behavior is a critical aspect of their biocompatibility, it is ne cessary to test such devices for corrosion behavior using a final deployed form and finish condition, Welding wire leads or holding with metallic clip s can result in surface variability or damage to the stents, A novel fixtur e to hold stents for corrosion testing was designed and evaluated in this s tudy. This fixture design minimally influenced the properties of stents, an d also facilitated easy removal post-testing for other types of characteriz ation. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.