Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death globally. Surgical treatments often involve vascular grafts (artificial blood vessels) to bypass a blocked artery, or angio-plasty with coronary artery stent implantation to open up a narrowed blood vessel. Vascular grafts and stents have several problems, one of which is their susceptibility to blockage by blood clots.
▲ A coating developed at ITMO Univ. consists of a matrix of densely packed aluminum oxide nanorods (gold) filled with a plasminogen activator. A polymer vascular graft (silver) coated with this film will dissolve blood clots. Image courtesy of Yulia Chapurina, ITMO Univ.
Several methods have been developed to address the blood-clotting problem. The most effective advance is the development of drug-eluting grafts. Those grafts are covered with a coating that slowly releases a drug into the vessel cavity to prevent blood clotting. Slow drug release from...
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