Prospects for the research and application of biodegradable ureteral stents: from bench to bedside

Abstract

Ureteral stents are commonly used in urological practices but are frequently associated with patient discomfort, encrustation and stent-related infection. And a second procedure is needed to remove the stent. New biomaterials and designs have been attempted to solve these problems. The development of biodegradable ureteral stent shows promising prospects in future clinical applications. This article reviews the biomaterials and preparation methods commonly used in the present study of biodegradable ureteral stents. To date, none of the technological developments has lead to the 'ideal' biodegradable ureteral stent, but much progress has been made in the stent design by improving the physical characteristics and biocompatibility of the biomaterials. The controllability of degradation, the biggest problem faced currently, still needs to be further improved. In the future, the nanotechnology and chemical modification of biomaterials may be able to further optimize the properties of degradation.

Heparin coating in biodegradable ureteral stents does not decrease bacterial colonization—assessment in ureteral stricture endourological treatment in animal model

“…The most recent animal model studies have revealed a decrease in the appearance of obstructive fragments and adequate biocompatibility (6,7,25). However, BUS still show poor control of degradation rate, because their degradation in the animal model is too fast or because they feature a wide degradation time interval (6,7,25,26). BraidStent ® -H demonstrated a programmed and predictable degradation rate in this study; 91.7% of them completely degrade in the sixth week, for which it was designed.…”

Biomaterials for Ureteral Stents: Advances and Future Perspectives

“…A crucial concern when producing a BUS is that the degradation profile of ureteral stents should occur in a controllable and adequate form, i.e. efficient mechanical properties must be assured during the treatment time and the degradation has to occur in an homogeneous way, avoiding additional ureteral obstruction [9,21,35]. In fact, these are very challenging features to obtain and constitute a critical point during the development process [3,35].…”

“…efficient mechanical properties must be assured during the treatment time and the degradation has to occur in an homogeneous way, avoiding additional ureteral obstruction [9,21,35]. In fact, these are very challenging features to obtain and constitute a critical point during the development process [3,35]. BUS have been fabricated from synthetic polymers, naturally origin polymers, biodegradable metals or a combination of biodegradable polymers and metals [3,35].…”

Advances in Drug Delivery via Biodegradable Ureteral Stent for the Treatment of Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

“…Various kinds of synthetic polymers have been used to prepare matrix and implant forms because of their distinctive advantages, such as excellent biocompatibility, controlled biodegradation rate, ideal mechanical strength, and hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity (Kim et al, 2014;Kapoor et al, 2015). Alpha hydroxy acids, such as polylactic acid (PLA), polyglycolic acid, poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyethylene glycol, poly (lactide-cocaprolactone), polydioxanone, etc., were the most commonly used synthetic polymers (Wang L. et al, 2018). Moreover, it is noted that all these polymers were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as biomaterials (Wang et al, 2015b) and Lumiaho et al (2007) fabricated a biodegradable ureteral stent by using PLA as the basic material.…”