Guided Catheter System Based on Smart Polymeric Brush Coating for Vascular Surgery
The main cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is narrowing of blood vessels due to atherosclerosis. In such cases stents are chronically implanted in -arteries to physically expand and scaffold the vessels. Each year, ~90,OOO stents are implanted in Canadians. All these minimally invasive procedures involve the use of a catheter. Currently available catheter tubes advance straight in blood vessels; it remain a challenge to the cardiac catheterization in bifurcated cardiac arteries which are blocked. To address this we will develop a guided catheter system to guide the tortuous bifurcated arterial paths in vascular surgely. Since the Intellectual Ventures (IV)~ Canada supports the development of novel application for guided catheters and serving the CVD market, it will directly benefit from this research. We anticipate generating new intellectual properties based on the work described. N previously licensed a technology from the research performed in Kizhakkedathu and Phani's laboratories on catheters and the current project will expand that technology further.