Balloon-Expanded Stent Delivery for Protruding Drug Features
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drug delivery systems for stents, such as drug-eluting stents, face challenges in efficiently delivering drugs to target locations within the body lumen while minimizing the required dosage and ensuring effective expansion and positioning of the stent.
Innovation Solution
A delivery system for expandable stents with protruding features that includes an inner shaft and an outer shaft, where the stent is positioned over an inflatable balloon for expansion, allowing immediate deployment upon unsheathing, and features a stabilizing wire to maintain position during expansion and retraction, enabling precise placement and drug delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the stent is expanded against the vessel wall to deliver drugs, then drug delivery effectiveness is improved, but the required drug dosage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stent incorporates protruding features (spikes, flails, or other extensions) that extend radially outward from the stent body, adding a dimensional component that increases contact area with the vessel wall. This dimensional extension allows drugs to be delivered directly to the vessel wall through the protruding features, improving delivery effectiveness while reducing the total dosage required compared to conventional stents without such features
2Reliability
If the stent is expanded to increase surface area contact with the luminal wall, then therapeutic treatment is improved, but the stent complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stent structure is segmented into a main body portion and separate protruding features (spikes, flails, or extensions). This segmentation allows the protruding features to be independently designed and positioned to maximize contact with the vessel wall, while the main body provides structural support. The modular segmentation enables effective therapeutic treatment without requiring complete redesign of the entire stent structure
Solution Approach 2:
The protruding features are integrated within the stent framework in a nested configuration, where the features are positioned within the overall stent structure but extend outward during expansion. This nesting approach allows the stent to maintain a relatively simple overall structure while incorporating functional protruding features that enhance therapeutic effectiveness without proportionally increasing complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system facilitates efficient drug delivery and stent expansion with reduced overlap, allowing for lower drug dosages and improved therapeutic treatment by enhancing the surface area of contact with the luminal wall, while also enabling multiple deployment and retrieval options.
Implementation Method 1
positioned over an inflatable balloon for expansion, allowing immediate deployment upon unsheathing
Data Source
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AI summary
Delivery systems for expandable elements, such as stents or scaffolds having spikes, flails, or other protruding features for penetrating target tissue and/or delivering drugs within a human patient are described along with associated methods for using such systems. The delivery systems can be provided with a stent that is positioned over an inflatable balloon for expansion and delivery of the stent to a target delivery location. By positioning the stent over and about the inflatable balloon, the stent is ready to be expanded by the balloon immediately upon unsheathing with respect to the outer shaft. Additionally or alternatively, a stent can be positioned in an axially offset arrangement with respect to a balloon to reduce the need for space required by overlapping components.