Balloon catheter having micro needles and manufacturing method for the same

Abstract

A balloon catheter which is inflated after insertion into a tubular tissue includes: a balloon catheter body made of a polymer material, which is inflatable by fluid injection, and a plurality of microneedles formed on the surface of the balloon catheter body, wherein the microneedles are formed by transferring a biocompatible polymer resin or photocurable resin, filled in intaglio patterns formed on a mold, which have a shape corresponding to a shape of the microneedles, to the surface of the balloon catheter body which is in close contact with the mold, by a thermal molding, thermal crosslinking or photocuring process.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a balloon catheter and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to an invention in which a balloon catheter having microneedles formed thereon can be manufactured in an easy and inexpensive manner by simultaneously transferring microneedles, prepared in intaglio patterns on a mold, to the surface of a balloon catheter body.[0003]2. Description of the Prior Art[0004]Generally, in tubular tissues such as blood vessels, esophagus, intestines, bronchi, airways, bile ducts, urethra, etc., narrowing of blood vessels is caused by arteriosclerosis in blood vessels or by cancer in other organs. For example, in angina patients, vascular narrowing or stenosis occurs in blood vessels, such as coronary arteries or peripheral blood vessels, due to cholesterol buildup, to reduce blood flow, causing severe pain or sudden death. In addition, in the case of bronchogenic cancer, esophage...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention aims to provide a solution for manufacturing a balloon catheter with microneedles in a simple and cost-effective way. The invention involves simultaneously transferring microneedles onto the surface of a balloon catheter body using a mold with intaglio patterns. This allows for the easy and efficient production of balloon catheters with microneedles.

Problems solved by technology

For example, in angina patients, vascular narrowing or stenosis occurs in blood vessels, such as coronary arteries or peripheral blood vessels, due to cholesterol buildup, to reduce blood flow, causing severe pain or sudden death.

In addition, in the case of bronchogenic cancer, esophageal cancer, bile duct cancer and the like, stenosis caused by tumor mass causes difficult breathing, food intake disorder, digestive disorder or the like, resulting in patient's death.

This method can treat stenosis or occlusion of vessel effectively, but has a problem of high restenosis rate which is higher than 70%.

This method can somewhat overcome the problem of the above-described balloon catheter method, but may cause abnormal growth of vascular smooth muscle cells and immune response-induced blood cell deposition due to stent-induced damage to the inner walls of blood vessels, resulting in neointimal hyperplasia.

In addition, this method has a problem in that the rate of restenosis is still as high as 30-40%, and for this reason, repeated reperfusion therapy is required.

This method can somewhat overcome the problem of the above-described method employing the metal mesh stent, but has problems in that the drug is lost by blood flow and restenosis can occur due to damage during stent insertion.

However, like the method employing the drug-eluting stent, the method employing the drug-eluting balloon catheter has a problem of drug loss by blood flow and resulting low delivery efficiency of drug to vascular tissue.

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