Research and Development of Biodegradable Coronary Artery Stent

• Main Authors: Fu Jyun Jiang, 姜富鈞
• Other Authors: S. J. Liu
• Format: Others
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/87790980951255286773

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 醫療機電工程研究所 === 97 === The purpose of this report was to develop novel solvent-free balloon-expandable self-lock polycaprolactone stents. To fabricate biodegradable stents, polycaprolactone components were first fabricated by a lab-scale micro-injection molded machine. They were then assembled and hot-spot welded into tube-shape stents of 3 and 5 mm in diameters. A special geometry of the components was designed to self-lock the assembled stents and to resist the external pressure of the blood vessels after being expanded by balloons. No solvent was used during the entire manufacture process. Characterization of the biodegradable PCL stents was carried out. No significant collapse pressure and weight loss of the stents was observed after being submerged in PBS for 12 weeks. In addition, a comparison of the mechanical strengths of PLC stents and conventional metallic stents has been made. The results suggested that the biodegradable PCL stents exhibited approximately 50% collapse pressure of that of metallic stents. By adopting this novel technique, we will be able to fabricate biodegradable PCL stents of different sizes for various cardiovascular applications.