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In Vivo Molding of Airway Stents
Author(s) -
Mencattelli Margherita,
Mondal Abhijit,
Miale Roberta,
Van Story David,
Peine Joseph,
Li Yingtian,
Artoni Alessio,
Kaza Aditya K.,
Dupont Pierre E.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202010525
Subject(s) - materials science , molding (decorative) , in vivo , airway , nanotechnology , biomedical engineering , composite material , medicine , surgery , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Like ready‐to‐wear clothing, medical devices come in a fixed set of sizes. While this may accommodate a large fraction of the patient population, others must either experience suboptimal results due to poor sizing or must do without the device. Although techniques have been proposed to fabricate patient‐specific devices in advance of a procedure, this process is expensive and time consuming. An alternative solution that provides every patient with a tailored fit is to create devices that can be customized to the patient's anatomy as they are delivered. This paper reports an in vivo molding process in which a soft flexible photocurable stent is delivered into the trachea or bronchi over a ultraviolet (UV)‐transparent balloon. The balloon is expanded such that the stent conforms to the varying cross‐sectional shape of the airways. UV light is then delivered through the balloon curing the stent into its expanded conformal shape. The potential of this method is demonstrated using phantom, ex vivo, and in vivo experiments. This approach can produce stents providing equivalent airway support to those made from standard materials while providing a customized fit.