Powder-reinforced photosensible resins with magnesium and barite to enhance performance of stents manufactured via vat photopolymerization
摘要
In recent years, drug-eluting stents have been improved to minimize drawbacks and clinical complications. Despite progress, some limitations remain, especially concerning cellular response and long-term pathologies. Literature suggest polymeric stents (both permanent and bioresorbable) are potential candidates to keep occluded arteries open and maintain optimal blood flow while reducing long-term complications. Polymers can be tuned for greater biocompatibility and to lessen vessel trauma. However, polymers present some limitations compared to metals, such as weaker mechanical properties and lack of radiopacity. The main objective of this study is to analyze how the addition of magnesium (Mg) and barite (BaSO4) powders affects the mechanical and physicochemical properties of the stents, as well as the printability, radiopacity, and dimensional accuracy. A biocompatible resin was mixed with powders of Mg and BaSO4 at different concentrations (5, 10, and 15% w/w%) and non-additivated fresh resin was used as a control group. The stents with different concentrations were successfully achieved by Stereolithography 3D Tubular (ST3DT) in this study. ST3DT is a vat photopolymerization-based method to manufacture stents with a tubular approach, leading to better mechanical properties. Thicker stents and wider stent struts have been achieved with lower concentrations of the powders. The results showed an increase of radial force by six times for 15%-BaSO4 stents and a decrease of nearly 39.02% for 15%-Mg compared to control stents. Viscosity has been highly increased by additives and temperature, up to three times (BaSO4) and two times (Mg) at room temperature, influencing the printing parameters.