Abstract: The invention broadly provides an implantable medical device comprising a liquid rope coil scaffold. The implant may consist essentially of the scaffold, where the scaffold is the implant and pores in the scaffold may incorporates one or more agents (i.e. drugs, growth factors), or the scaffold may comprise only part of the medical device, for example an implant that is partly or fully covered with a layer of the scaffold. The porosity of the scaffold may be tailored to suit the application, for example a porosity that is tailored to hold and release drug or biological molecules in vivo, a porosity to provide a surface roughness that is conducive to promotion of in-vivo bio-integration (for example vascularisation) or prevention of fibrosis, or a porosity that provides structural strength. The scaffold may be essentially tubular, or may be provided as a planar structure, or may be any shape and can be used to coat, fully or partially any shape or size of medical implant.

Abstract: The invention relates to actuators based on electroactive polymeric materials for use in pumping fluids or in other applications where a contractile actuation is required, in particular, although not necessarily exclusively, for use in vascular pulsation devices such as a variable aortic tension device. Embodiments disclosed include an actuator comprising: an inner tubular structure; an outer tubular structure surrounding the inner tubular structure and comprising a plurality of layers of a dielectric elastomeric material and a tubular elastic support structure, the elastic support structure configured to maintain a pre-stress in the layers of the dielectric elastomeric material, wherein the outer tubular structure is configured to contract in a radial direction around the inner tubular structure upon application of an actuation voltage signal across the dielectric elastomeric material layers.

Abstract: The invention relates to actuators based on electroactive polymeric materials for use in pumping fluids or in other applications where a contractile actuation is required, in particular although not necessarily exclusively for use in vascular pulsation devices such as a variable aortic tension device. Embodiments disclosed include an actuator (10) comprising: an inner tubular structure (15, 12); an outer tubular structure (13, 14) surrounding the inner tubular structure (15, 12) and comprising a plurality of layers of a dielectric elastomeric material (13) and a tubular elastic support structure (14), the elastic support structure (14) configured to maintain a pre-stress in the layers of the dielectric elastomeric material (13), wherein the outer tubular structure (13, 14) is configured to contract in a radial direction around the inner tubular structure (12, 15) upon application of an actuation voltage signal across the dielectric elastomeric material layers (13).