On the role of specific drug binding in modelling arterial eluting stents

In this paper we consider drug binding in the arterial wall following delivery by a drug-eluting stent. Whilst it is now generally accepted that a non-linear saturable reversible binding model is required to properly describe the binding process, the precise form of the binding model varies between authors. Our particular interest in this manuscript is in assessing to what extent modelling specific and non-specific binding in the arterial wall as separate phases is important. We study this issue by extending a recently developed coupled model of drug release and arterial tissue distribution, and comparing simulated profiles of drug concentration and drug mass in each phase within the arterial tissue

Modelling chemistry and biology after implantation of a drug-eluting stent. Part I: Drug transport

Drug-eluting stents have been used widely to prevent restenosis of arteries following percutaneous balloon angioplasty. Mathematical modelling plays an important role in optimising the design of these stents to maximise their efficiency. When designing a drug-eluting stent system, we expect to have a sufficient amount of drug being released into the artery wall for a sufficient period to prevent restenosis. In this paper, a simple model is considered to provide an elementary description of drug release into artery tissue from an implanted stent. From the model, we identified a parameter regime to optimise the system when preparing the polymer coating. The model provides some useful order of magnitude estimates for the key quantities of interest. From the model, we can identify the time scales over which the drug traverses the artery wall and empties from the polymer coating, as well as obtain approximate formulae for the total amount of drug in the artery tissue and the fraction of drug that has released from the polymer. The model was evaluated by comparing to in-vivo experimental data and good agreement was found

Modelling the impact of atherosclerosis on drug release and distribution from coronary stents

Although drug-eluting stents (DES) are now widely used for the treatment of coronary heart disease, there remains considerable scope for the development of enhanced designs which address some of the limitations of existing devices. The drug release profile is a key element governing the overall performance of DES. The use of in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, in silico and mathematical models has enhanced understanding of the factors which govern drug uptake and distribution from DES. Such work has identified the physical phenomena determining the transport of drug from the stent and through tissue, and has highlighted the importance of stent coatings and drug physical properties to this process. However, there is limited information regarding the precise role that the atherosclerotic lesion has in determining the uptake and distribution of drug. In this review, we start by discussing the various models that have been used in this research area, highlighting the different types of information they can provide. We then go on to describe more recent methods that incorporate the impact of atherosclerotic lesions

Toward a Framework for Semantic Organizational Information Portal

Abstract. Information Portals have gathered lot of attention among many organizations interested in a single point of access to their information and services. But developing portals from scratch is sometimes too expensive, so many vendors have proposed frameworks to make it affordable. Notwithstanding the frameworks the market offers seem stuck in a simplicity vs. flexibility trade off imposed by the Web technologies they are built with. Therefore we believe that a technology change is required and that Semantic Web technology can play a key role in developing a new, Semantic, generation of simpler and, at the same time, flexibler frameworks for Organizational Information Portal.

Conceptual Knowledge Processing with Formal Concept Analysis and Ontologies

Cimiano P, Stumme G, Hotho A, Tane J. Conceptual Knowledge Processing with Formal Concept Analysis and Ontologies. In: Eklund PW, ed. Concept Lattices, Second International Conference on Formal Concept Analysis, ICFCA 2004, Sydney, Australia, February 23-26, 2004, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2961. Springer; 2004: 189-207

On the Role of Phase Change in Modelling Drug-Eluting Stents

International audienc