Spatial Distribution and Temporal Evolution of Scattering Centers by Optical Coherence Tomography in the Poly(L-Lactide) Backbone of a Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold

Abstract

The SC observed in OCT imaging of the BVS are located exclusively at inflection points and do not increase with time. These findings strongly suggest that SC are caused by crazes in the polymer during crimp-deployment, ruling out any major role of hydrolysis or other time-dependent processes.