Photocurable Shape Memory Polymer for Soft Tissue Implants
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current biomaterials for treating soft tissue pathologies lack optimal mechanical profiles, biodegradability, and shape memory behavior, leading to issues such as tissue erosion, device embolization, and rapid resorption, which are not suitable for minimally invasive surgical procedures.
Innovation Solution
Development of photocurable shape memory polymers made from bioresorbable materials, specifically Poly(glycerol dodecanedioate) (PGD), which are acrylated to create a photocurable form (APGD) that can be 3D printed and exhibit nonlinear elastic behavior, biocompatibility, and adjustable mechanical properties, allowing for in vivo curing and complex anatomical structure creation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If thermoplastic polymers are used to treat soft tissue pathologies, then the devices can provide structural support, but they exhibit linear elastic behavior with high Young's moduli that are far larger than soft tissue mechanical properties, leading to tissue erosion or device embolization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the mechanical parameters of the polymer material by transitioning from thermoplastic to elastomeric polymers, adjusting the Young's modulus to match soft tissue mechanical properties. This parameter change eliminates the harmful tissue erosion effect while maintaining structural support capability through nonlinear elastic behavior.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material strategies by combining elastomeric polymers with specific mechanical properties that mimic soft tissue, creating a material that provides structural support without causing tissue damage. The composite approach integrates multiple material characteristics to achieve both strength and biocompatibility.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If hydrogels are used to treat soft tissue pathologies, then the materials exhibit nonlinear elastic and viscoelastic behavior matching soft tissue, but they are too compliant to support soft tissue mechanical forces and suffer from implant migration and rapid resorption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adjusts the mechanical parameters by selecting elastomeric polymers with optimized compliance values that match soft tissue while maintaining sufficient strength. This parameter optimization resolves the contradiction between matching tissue mechanics and providing mechanical support, eliminating both tissue erosion and implant migration issues.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If bioresorbable materials are used to allow tissue infiltration and replace the implant, then the devices can be degraded and resorbed, but many formulations are not biodegradable or their degradation byproducts are not naturally occurring, suggesting increased potential for inflammatory response
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the polymer to ensure biodegradability and produce naturally occurring degradation byproducts. This parameter adjustment allows the material to degrade over time into safe, biocompatible substances, eliminating inflammatory responses while maintaining the desired biodegradation timeline.
4Ease of manufacture
If minimally invasive surgical procedures are used, then operational costs and hospitalization time are reduced, but there is a gap in biomaterials that can be deployed via MIS techniques and match target soft tissue mechanical properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes multiple material parameters simultaneously - mechanical properties, biodegradability, and shape memory characteristics - to create a polymer suitable for MIS deployment. The material can be compressed for delivery and then expand to match soft tissue mechanics in situ, resolving the contradiction between ease of minimally invasive deployment and adaptability to tissue requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dynamic materials with shape memory properties that can change their physical state during deployment. The polymer transitions from a compressed delivery state to an expanded functional state matching soft tissue mechanics, enabling both minimally invasive delivery and appropriate tissue interaction.
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 photocurable APGD materials demonstrate improved shape fixity, recovery ratios, and biodegradation profiles, enabling them to maintain shape memory behavior and degrade appropriately within the body, reducing the risk of tissue damage and the need for repeat procedures.
Implementation Method 1
a shape memory polymer having a first shape and a second shape, wherein the shape memory polymer is in the first shape and takes the second shape in response to a stimulus
Implementation Method 2
a photocurable side chain; and a photoinitiator
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are implant materials comprising a shape memory polymer having a first shape and a second shape. The shape memory polymer can comprise a polymer backbone having at least one monomer unit of glycerol and at least one monomer unit of dodecanedioate, a photocurable side chain bonded to the polymer backbone, and a photoinitiator. The shape memory polymer can be in the first shape and takes the second shape in response to a stimulus.