Researchers made the shunt by creating new polymers for a hydrogel that could form new crosslinks and expand the shunt's inner diameter.
Researchers are developing a blood shunt with an inner diameter that expands when exposed to a blue light-emitting catheter, limiting the need for high-risk open-chest surgeries to replace the shunt in growing children.Children born with defects affecting the lower chambers of the heart often require multiple invasive surgeries early in life. The initial procedure typically involves implanting a plastic tube, or shunt, to enhance blood flow.
“After the surgeon first puts in the tube, these children often have to go through an additional two or three, maybe even four, surgeries just to implant a slightly larger tube,” says Christopher Rodell, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Drexel University. To accommodate this growth, surgeons often have to perform another open-chest surgery to replace the shunt with a larger one. Each surgery carries significant risks. In a study involving 360 patients who underwent the initial heart reconstruction, 41 required additional surgeries for a larger shunt, and sadly, seven patients did not survive.
He achieved this by creating new polymers for a hydrogel that could form additional crosslinks and expand the shunt’s inner diameter when triggered. To control this expansion, Rodell chose blue light as the activation method, as it has enough energy to start the reaction while remaining safe for living tissues.
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