Abstract
Background: The appropriate balloon-to-artery ratio (BAR) for cutting balloons (CBs), to expand calcified lesions without increasing the risk of coronary artery perforation is unknown. This study investigated the effects of BAR on stress levels in the calcification and at the borders of the coronary artery adjacent to the calcification to determine an appropriate BAR. Methods and Results: A custom-designed folding process of the CB model was developed. The CB models were deployed in a coronary artery model with a reference diameter of 3.0 mm, length of 24 mm, and wall thickness of 0.8 mm equipped with a 50% diameter stenotic, 360° concentric, 400-µm, and 5-mm-long calcification. Finite element analysis of the expansion of CBs with diameters increasing from 2.0 to 3.0 mm in 0.25-mm increments, corresponding to BARs from 0.67 : 1 to 1 : 1, was conducted with pressures up to 12 atm. Decreasing the CB by 0.25 and 0.5 mm (relative to the reference diameter of 3 mm) preserved maximum principal tensile stress levels comparable to that of a CB with a BAR of 1 : 1 while distinctly reducing the stress at the border of the artery adjacent and calcification. Conclusions: Selecting a CB that is 0.25 or 0.5 mm lower than the 3-mm reference diameter may be the first choice to effectively fracture calcifications without increasing the risk of severe artery dissection and perforation.