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US 2011/0218618 A1Published application
Self-Regenerating Drug-Delivering Stent
OwnerStephen H. Monroeinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for bulk manufacture of a microporous sheet material from polyolefin fibers, where an average pore size in the material is controlled by calendering the material through low-energy rollers at a suitable temperature, pressure and speed. The material is useful to selectively pass or reject certain substances, and may be combined in a resilient, tube-shaped configuration to form a self-regenerating drug-delivering vascular stent that reduces inflammation at the stent site to prevent restenosis.
Claims24
A method comprising:
- combining polyolefin pulp fibers with a liquid carrier;
- mixing the polyolefin pulp fibers and liquid carrier in a high-shear system to produce a uniform slurry;
- laying the uniform slurry on a wire frame;
- drying the uniform slurry to produce a sheet product;
- and
- calendering the sheet product at least once to reduce an average pore size of the sheet product.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- producing a sheet of paper-like material from a pulp mixture comprising polyolefin pulp fibers;
- calendering the sheet of paper-like material using a low-surface-energy calender roll system to make a microporous sheet material having an average pore size between about 4 and about 40 Angstroms;
- and
- incorporating a portion of the microporous sheet material into a vascular stent.
1 more element
A vascular stent comprising:
- a flexible, substantially cylindrical structure whose outer diameter can be reduced for insertion through a catheter;
- and
- a microporous covering over the cylindrical structure, wherein
- the microporous covering has an average pore size between about 4 Angstroms and about 10 Angstroms.
1 more element
A self-regenerating drug-delivering stent comprising:
- a stent substrate;
- and
- means for scavenging physiologically-active agents from a bloodstream near a site of the stent substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.