Biodegradable Nanofiber Sleeve for Drug Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current stent and balloon catheter technologies for treating hollow organs, such as blood vessels, often cause mechanical irritation, clot formation, and restenosis due to material thrombogenicity and mechanical stress, necessitating anticoagulant medication with side effects, and struggle to deliver therapeutic agents effectively for extended periods.
Innovation Solution
A tubular fleece structure made from biodegradable polymer nanofibers is used as an active substance carrier that unfolds within the hollow organ, providing a controlled release of medicinal agents over a predetermined period, reducing mechanical irritation and thrombogenicity while adhering to the organ wall to prevent clot formation and promote healing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional stents are used to support hollow organs, then mechanical support is provided, but thrombosis and mechanical irritation occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters from conventional metals and polymers to biodegradable polymers with controlled degradation rates. The stent material transitions from permanent to temporary support, degrading over periods ranging from weeks to months, thereby reducing long-term thrombogenicity and mechanical irritation while maintaining necessary mechanical support during the critical healing period
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a discarding principle where the stent is designed to be biodegraded and absorbed by the body after fulfilling its temporary mechanical support function. The biodegradable polymer structure gradually breaks down into biocompatible byproducts that are metabolized and eliminated, eliminating the need for permanent foreign body implantation that causes chronic irritation and thrombosis
2Productivity
If balloon catheter inflation is used to dilate constrictions, then vessel opening is achieved, but mechanical injury and restenosis occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by coating the balloon catheter with therapeutic agents before inflation. The coating is pre-applied and designed to be transferred to the vessel wall during the dilation process, providing prophylactic treatment against restenosis before the mechanical injury fully develops and triggers the proliferative response
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a coating layer as an intermediary substance between the balloon and the vessel wall. This coating acts as a mediator that modifies the interaction during dilation, delivering therapeutic agents that suppress the harmful restenotic response while allowing the necessary mechanical dilation to occur
3Object-affected harmful factors
If antiproliferative agents are used to prevent restenosis, then vessel wall proliferation is reduced, but stent ingrowth is prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by using a biodegradable coating that changes its properties over time. The coating provides antiproliferative effects initially to prevent restenosis, then gradually degrades and disappears, allowing natural stent ingrowth and endothelialization to occur in the later stages without permanent inhibition of cellular processes
4Quantity of substance
If stents are coated with polymer containing antiproliferative agents, then drug release is achieved, but homogeneous distribution and controlled duration are difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials combining biodegradable polymer matrices with embedded therapeutic agents. The composite structure allows controlled degradation of the polymer to release the embedded drugs in a sustained manner, achieving homogeneous distribution through the coating layer and controlling the release duration through polymer selection and formulation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes physical and chemical parameters of the coating system, including polymer molecular weight, crystallinity, hydrophobicity, and crosslinking density, to control drug release kinetics. These parameter adjustments enable precise tuning of release duration and rate while maintaining homogeneous drug distribution throughout the coating matrix
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 tubular fleece structure effectively delivers therapeutic agents for an extended period, reducing the need for anticoagulant medication, minimizing mechanical irritation, and preventing restenosis by controlled biodegradation, ensuring a consistent drug release and reducing systemic side effects.
Implementation Method 1
the first polymer fibers are designed such that they degrade as slowly biodegradable polymer nanofibers (PL) over an adjustable period of 2 weeks to 3 months
Implementation Method 2
the drug can be released to a hollow organ wall during this period
Data Source
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AI summary
According to the invention, a tubular nonwoven structure serves as a drug carrier for the atraumatic treatment of hollow organs (referred to as "sleeve"), particularly applicable via a balloon catheter, and a method for its production, wherein the sleeve is folded around a longitudinal axis in an initial state and can be unfolded in a final state to conform to the inner wall of a hollow organ, wherein the tubular sleeve is formed from at least first biodegradable polymer nanofibers and the folding of the sleeve is directed as pleating around a longitudinal axis, wherein a medical drug is embedded in the first polymer nanofibers and/or arranged in spaces between the polymer nanofibers, and wherein the first polymer fibers are designed such that the polymer fibers degrade over a period of 2 weeks to 3 months, so that the drug can be released to a hollow organ wall during this period.