Formation and characteristics of laminar vortices in microscale environments within an obstructed and stented ureter: A computational study
Carugo D., Zhang X., Drake MJ., Clavica F.
© 14CBMS. Despite the widespread clinical usage of ureteric stents for the drainage of urine in impaired ureters (e.g. caused by ureteric stones, tumors) many complications are still associated with stent's implants. Encrusting and infective events, due to crystals' deposition and bacterial adhesion on the stent surface, usually lead to stent failure. In earlier experimental results we showed the presence of vortices in regions of the stent (e.g. side holes) which are thought to act as initial anchoring sites for encrusting deposits. In the current study we show computationally how the stent's design is a crucial factor for developing the vortices.