Innovations for intubated patients have advanced another step. Dr Kunal Masania – an associate professor at the Aerospace Engineering (AE) Faculty – participated in a research study from ETH Zurich to develop customised, biodegradable airway stents, bringing aerospace science into the medical field.
Patients suffering from a narrowing windpipe require an airway stent, a tube-shaped device inserted to support or restore the airway’s cylindrical shape. Flexible silicone-based airway stents are the most widely used type, yet they are prone to migration since they are not specifically tailored to each person.
Dr Masania proposed using 3D imaging to model each patient’s trachea and digital light processing (DLP) to 3D-print the stent. Through its higher operating temperatures (about 200 Celsius) – that normally apply to aerospace materials – DLP is suitable for the harder ‘plastics’ required for airway stents. The airway stents were successfully absorbed into several test rabbits’ bodies after seven weeks without tissue damage or other side effects. The scientists are now preparing to administer the new stent to human patients.
Read more about the study here.
Rayan Suryadikara / Science Desk Intern
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