AUXSTENT (Stent for pediatric aortic coarctation treatment)

Flexible stents that adapt to the arterial changes caused by natural growth to treat paediatric aortic coarctation

The main goal of this proposal is to develop the proof of concept of the technology we are developing, a polymeric auxetic stent to treat pediatric aortic coarctation.
This technology consists of a stent composed of a combination of tailored designs that make the implant structure different at the center, where greater radial force is required to keep the arterial lumen of the alibied region open, and at the ends, where an auxetic design is established that is able to grow simultaneously in diameter and length, thus providing proportional support along the somatic growth of the patient’s artery.

The specific objectives to cover in this proposal are:
1) To manufacture the polymeric auxetic stent designs through a process of extrusion, expansion and femtosecond laser cutting of biocompatible polymeric tubes.
2) To test the ability of the manufactured prototypes to crimp within an endovascular catheter.
3) To perform patency-related testing of the manufactured prototypes to assess the implant’s ability to provide structural support to the deseased artery.

This project is an award from the 2023 Call “Ajuts d’Indústria del Coneixement” ) with the support of AGAUR and Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

Research groups

GEPI – Industrial Products Engineering Group

The GEPI group (Industrial Products Engineering Group) conducts its activity in three main areas: Additive Manufacturing (AM), Reverse Engineering: digitization of objects with scanners and mechanical characterization of materials.