Segmented Uncaging Stent for Radial Strength and Vessel Compliance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing stents, both metallic and biodegradable, face issues such as jailing or caging the vessel, excessive inward recoil, limited ability to further expand, and reduced compliance over time, leading to negative clinical events and impaired vessel function.
Innovation Solution
A vascular and luminal prostheses comprising scaffolds with a design that includes circumferential rings with separation regions, allowing for increased compliance and reduced radial strength over time, enhancing vessel remodeling and compliance post-implantation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If metallic stents are used to provide high radial strength, then the vessel is supported and held open, but the vessel compliance is lost and the stent jails or cages the vessel
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is divided into multiple circumferential rings that can separate from each other. The separation regions allow the rings to detach under physiological conditions, transforming the stent from a rigid continuous structure into segmented components that can move independently, thereby restoring vessel compliance while maintaining initial structural support.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic system where the circumferential rings can separate and move relative to each other. This dynamic behavior allows the stent to adapt to physiological conditions over time, enabling vessel compliance recovery while maintaining initial radial strength for vessel support.
2Strength
If stents are designed with high initial radial strength, then vessel support is provided, but the stent cannot further expand after implantation and prevents positive remodeling
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented design with separable circumferential rings allows the stent to expand in stages. Initially, the continuous ring structure provides high radial strength for vessel support. Over time, as rings separate at the separation regions, the stent can further expand to accommodate vessel remodeling and growth, enabling adaptability that rigid stents cannot provide.
3Length of moving object
If self-expandable shape memory alloys are used, then the stent profile is reduced for deliverability, but the radial strength is insufficient and excessive inward recoil occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The stent combines shape memory alloy material properties with a segmented structural design. The shape memory alloy enables compact crimping for deliverability, while the segmented circumferential ring structure provides enhanced radial strength and controls inward recoil by allowing controlled separation rather than uniform collapse, addressing both deliverability and strength requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A stent (scaffold) or other luminal prosthesis comprising circumferential structural elements which provides high strength after deployment and allows for scaffold to uncage, and/or allow for scaffold or luminal expansion thereafter. The circumferential scaffold may be formed from degradable material, or may be formed from non-degradable material and will be modified to expand and/or uncage after deployment.