Cumulative Nitinol Fatigue with Statistical Evaluation

Implanted cardiovascular devices must undergo a range of applied cyclic loads after implantation. Peripheral devices, for example, are subjected to both radial pulsatile loading and non-radial loading such as cyclic bending from limb motion. Coronary stents may also see a range of loads due to increases in heart exertion, such as during exercise. As highlighted by these examples, such variable loading commonly involves a smaller number of high amplitude cycles combined with a larger number of low amplitude cycles.