Method for roll coating multiple stents

Abstract

An improved method and apparatus for high-volume production of coated stents with highly uniform stent coatings using a roll coating technique is provided. In a first embodiment, uncoated stents are placed onto rotating stent holders with automated stent handling equipment. The holders are mounted on an endless conveyer belt which advances the stents toward a stent coater. As the stents advance through the coater, the holders rotate, thereby rolling the stents about their longitudinal axes as coating material is sprayed toward them, ensuring the stents are uniformly coated on their exterior and interior surfaces. After the conveyer turns to carry the coated stents back toward the loading area, the rotating stents pass again through the coating spray, downstream of the initial coating location, thereby increasing the efficient utilization of the coating material. The conveyer then advances the coated stents to an unloading area for removal before the holders return to the stent loading area to receive new stents.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention generally regards the holding of stents during manufacture to enable the application of therapeutic and / or protective coatings. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a method for high-throughput, efficient and uniform coating of stents, wherein the stents placed on rotating fixtures on a conveyer, and the conveyer passes the rotating stents through a coating spray or immersion bath to apply a coating to the stents. BACKGROUND [0002] Medical implants are used for innumerable medical purposes, including the reinforcement of recently re-enlarged lumens, the replacement of ruptured vessels, and the treatment of disease such as vascular disease by local pharmacotherapy, i.e., delivering therapeutic drug doses to target tissues while minimizing systemic side effects. Such localized delivery of therapeutic agents has been proposed or achieved using medical implants which both support a lumen within a patient's body and plac...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] A number of alternative embodiments for performance of the method of the present invention are envisioned. For example, there may be a number of alternative embodiments for performing the stent placement step, such as providing stents pre-mounted on stent holders with rotating pins equipping with corresponding stent holder receivers to facilitate stent handling by automated stent placement equipment. Similarly, in the step of applying the coating material, rather than spraying the coating material perpendicularly across the endless belt, the coating may be applied from a sprayer aligned with the major axis of the endless belt such that the rolling stents have a longer exposure to the coating spray. The sprayer may also apply the coating while the spray head is rotating about the line of rolling stents. In a further embodiment, the coating application step may be performed by drawing the rolling stents through a coating bath. Other embodiments extend the stent coating step to include the endless belt reversing direction several times to cause the rolling stents to pass several times through the downstream portions of the coating spray to improve coating material utilization, and the inclusion of additional stent processing steps between the coating application step and the coated stent unloading step, such as accelerating the drying of the stent coating by advancing the coated stents through an infrared coating dryer.

[0010] The result of the various foregoing embodiments of the method of the present invention is high volume, efficient and lower-cost production of stents with a highly uniform coating on their exterior and, in desired, interior surfaces.

Problems solved by technology

When the amount of coating is depleted the implant's effectiveness may be compromised and additional risks may be inured into the procedure.

For example, when the coating of the implant includes a therapeutic, if some of the coating were removed during deployment, the therapeutic may no longer be able to be administered to the target site in a uniform and homogenous manner.

Similarly, if the therapeutic is ripped from the implant it can reduce or slow down the blood flowing past it, thereby, increasing the threat of thrombosis or, if it becomes dislodged, the risk of embolisms.

This individual handling typically has resulted in low production rates of coated stents.

A further disadvantage of these prior stent coating processes is that, because the stents are wire mesh structures with substantial void area between the mesh wires, the utilization of the stent coating material sprayed toward the stents is very low.

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