What is the clinical relevance of testing using thicker walled mock arteries vs. thin walled mock arteries?

There are a couple of theories about how to test stents. An older theory is to use a simulated, or mock, artery with physiological characteristics (a mock artery that is designed to have the same diametric distention at the same pressures as a healthy native artery) and then to accelerate the test while maintaining physiological pressures. It is hoped that by staying within physiological pressure levels, the resulting strains will also be physiological. This approach was used in Bose ESG's earliest designs. It is still used by some. One problem with the physiological approach is, as the test is accelerated beyond 15 Hz, distortion is seen in the mock artery (flattening) because the physiological tube simply cannot squeeze fluid out of itself at the end of each pulse at higher rates. This phenomenon is observable on those types of instruments when viewed under a strobe light. In 1995 the FDA was approached with a new test method. In this approach the operator is using a thick-walled ...  more