Engineering Approaches to Prevent Blood Clotting from Medical Implants

Abstract

Injectable and/or Implantable medical devices are widely used in the treatment of diseases. Among them, vascular stents provide the medical solution to treat blood clotting. However, traditional metallic stents, even with current improvements in anticoagulation properties, have potential drawbacks in local inflammation when first implanted into the body and undesirable protein adsorption and cell adhesion after a prolonged period of time in the body. In this perspective, we discuss several engineering approaches, including drug-eluting materials, polymeric and non-polymeric coatings, and surface modifications to coating materials that can be applied to the surface of medical implants to significantly improve the hemocompatibility. These coatings are expected to have a slow degradation rate with the ability to either load drugs or attach biomacromolecules to form an architecture that mimics the surrounding cells. In general, our perspective provides a current view on the achievements of hemo-compatible coatings and future trends in coating materials that will extend the life of the medical implants.

Antimicrobial and Antiproliferative Coatings for Stents in Veterinary Medicine—State of the Art and Perspectives

“…Moreover, the ever-increasing problem of developing arteriosclerosis [80] in humans has contributed to the thriving development of vascular stenting procedures, thus forcing researchers to develop new solutions to prevent red blood cells from depositing on the stent surface, forming a clot and causing restenosis. In addition, due to the risk of neointima hypertrophy on the stent surface, certain solutions are expected to prevent blood clotting and neointima hyperproliferation [81,82]. Among the available scientific positions, there are reports whose results may inspire veterinary researchers on the improvement of previously used stents and their introduction into clinical practice.…”

Bioinspired chitosan based functionalization of biomedical implant surfaces for enhanced hemocompatibility, antioxidation and anticoagulation potential: an in silico and in vitro study

“… 10 Despite of its efficiency, it has been associated with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia which can increase the risk of clots forming around the coated surface. 11 Many other anticoagulants including warfarin, 12 aspirin, 13 and acenocoumarol 14 have been reported to be used for biomedical implants applications to reduce the rate of thrombosis. Nevertheless, these molecules have high potency, short-term effects and chances of severe bleeding which makes them an unfavorable choice.…”