US 2011/0085712 A1 · Method For Imaging Biomaterial Erosion In Vivo

Abstract

A method for imaging the erosion of a biomaterial is disclosed. More specifically, the present invention provides a method for imaging a labeled biomaterial so that the erosion of the biomaterial is measured in vivo over a period of time. A biomaterial such as, for example, a hydrogel including polyethylene glycol (PEG) is labeled with a fluorescent or bioluminescent marker. The labeled biomaterial is then employed in the construction of an implanted medical device such as, for example, an endovascular stent. Furthermore, the labeled biomaterial may be utilized to form a drug delivery system that releases a controlled amount of a drug into a local region within a patient. The erosion of the biomaterial is monitored through a noninvasive imaging method.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method for noninvasively imaging erosion of a biomaterial in vivo, the method comprising the steps of:

a) preparing an in vivo biomaterial sample by tagging a sample of the biomaterial with a marker that bonds to the biomaterial;
b) introducing the tagged biomaterial sample to an in vivo environment;
c) acquiring imaging data from the in vivo environment including the tagged sample of the biomaterial over a selected time period;
d) reconstructing a series of images form the imaging data, each image characterizing a luminescent property of the in vitro biomaterial sample at a given time in the selected time period;
and
e) determining, from the images, changes in the luminescent property of the biomaterial sample the selected time period;
f) correlating the changes in the luminescent property of the biomaterial sample to an in vivo marker characteristic indicative of the erosion of the biomaterial in vivo.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method For Imaging Biomaterial Erosion In Vivo

Life of this patent

Method For Imaging Biomaterial Erosion In Vivo

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16