"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
15 Aug 2019
Stents are being widely used to treat blocked coronary vessels, but researchers from Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland felt the need for a smaller stent to treat urethral stricture that develops one in every thousand children, sometimes even when they are still a foetus in the womb.
The smallest stent can prevent life-threatening levels of urine from accumulating in the bladder if it could be inserted to widen the constriction while the foetus is still in the womb, according to the study published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies. However, it is impossible to create a stent, so small in size through conventional methods. Therefore, paediatric surgeon Gaston De Bernardis from Aargau Cantonal Hospital approached the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.
Researchers at the Lab have been able to develop a new method which will help them produce highly detailed structures measuring less than 100 micrometres in diameter by a method called indirect 4D printing. The stent’s shape-memory properties enable it every time to return to its original shape after compression, thus widening the constricted area of the urinary tract.
Before finding real-world application, researchers said that the stent will first be tested in animal models. The results can open the door to the development of new tools for minimally invasive surgery.
Image Source: Futurity.org
