Many cardiac patients who have percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) receive a stent. A stent is a thin metal tube which is placed in the coronary artery to prevent it from closing up again. In practice, 10 percent of these patients develop complications from stents. The University of Twente in the Netherlands is therefore starting a research project to develop a new generation of stents. The project will cost a total of 1.8 million euros.
Approximately 36,000 patients undergo balloon angioplasty (PCTA) in the Netherlands every year. The procedure entails dilating the narrowed coronary artery with a small balloon. 87 percent of these patients receive a stent at the same time. Stents are thin tubes made of fine mesh stainless steel, whose purpose is to prevent the artery from blocking up again (restenosis).
Around 10 percent of the patients who have a stent inserted experience problems because scar tissue forms around it, causing clots that move into the bloodstream (thrombosis). New stents have been developed that release medicine locally to reduce the risk of thrombosis, but they have not solved the problem of scar tissue formation completely.
Researchers at the University of Twente are therefore starting a project to develop biomaterial for a new generation of stents. To this end, the researchers will attach enzymes to the inside of the stent using bionanotechnology. The idea is that when the stent is inserted into the body, endothelial cells (which form the natural lining of blood vessels) bind to the enzymes. A natural layer of cells, which should prevent thrombosis, will then form on the inside of the stent. The challenge for the researchers will be to arrange the enzymes on the stent in such a way that a smooth, homogeneous layer of cells can arise inside it.
1.8 MILLION
The University of Twente has received a subsidy for this research project from the BioMedical Materials programme (BMM), a programme intended for innovative research with clinical relevance. The project will be carried out by the University of Twente's research institutes MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology and MIRA Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, the Medisch Spectrum Twente, Eindhoven University of Technology and the company NT-MDT. The entire project will cost 1.8 million euros.
In addition to the subsidy, Pascal Jonkheijm of the University of Twente has also received a 'young researcher award' from BMM for the research proposal he submitted.
