SMA Cardiovascular Applications and Computer-Based Design

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the application of shape memory alloys (SMAs) in the field of cardiovascular surgery. The unique features of SMAs, and in particular of Nitinol, fit well with the needs of minimally invasive surgical approaches. We review the application of SMAs in the field of cardiovascular devices, with a special focus on the device design and, in particular, on how advanced computer-based modeling is used in this context. The chapter first gives a brief overview of the different types of SMA cardiovascular devices, then a literature review of the related numerical simulation is proposed.