Abstract: The teachings are directed to a medical device having a drug-retaining coating that at least substantially delays the initial elution of a drug for a time effective at forming a functional endothelium over a surface of the medical device.

Abstract: Various methods for optimizing coating of medical devices, such as balloon catheters are disclosed. One method configures catheter balloon folds based on balloon diameter and volume. Other methods include using a specifically-sized protective sheath, using a vacuum, using pressure, pulling the balloon through a coating solution, using at least one spacer or a wick between at least one fold for metering a therapeutic coating into the folds of the balloon, placing an intermediate layer between the balloon and the therapeutic coating, placing a soluble film having a therapeutic agent around the catheter balloon or inside the folds, and any combination thereof. Balloon catheters and catheter balloons having a specific folding configuration, a specifically-sized protective sheath, an intermediate layer, or a soluble film are also disclosed.

Abstract: A percutaneous valve device and system are provided, which improve sealing between the anchor and native anatomy. The anchor includes a space-occupying material, such as a hydrogel, on an external surface that swells when exposed to an aqueous environment, filling gaps between the anchor and the native anatomy, and thereby serves as a valve seal.

Abstract: A method for reducing mucus accumulation in an airway including disposing an implantable device within an airway, wherein the implantable device has a first end, a second end, and an inner surface defining a lumen extending from the first end to the second end; wherein at least a portion of the inner surface has a hydrophobic polymer coating thereon, wherein a polymer coating surface has dynamic water contact angles of 145 degrees or greater; and wherein the implantable device is constructed and arranged to maintain patency of the airway; wherein accumulation of mucus is reduced as compared to a similar implantable device without the hydrophobic portion of the inner surface. An implantable medical device having a superhydrophobic surface and a method of making an implantable medical device having a superhydrophobic surface are also provided.

Abstract: An intraocular shunt can be manufactured using a system that includes a liquid bath and a wire, which is moved through the bath. When moved through the bath, the wire is coated with a material, such as gelatin. For example, the liquid bath can have a top layer, including water, and a bottom layer, including gelatin. The coated wire passes through an aperture formed in a plate component of the system. The gelatin can be dried on the wire in a humidity-controlled space, thereby forming the shunt.

Abstract: A medical device for delivering a reagent, such as a pharmaceutical agent, a diagnostic agent, a nutrient, or another type of reagent, to an intravascular or intralumenal location, is disclosed. The medical device has a coating, where exposing the coating to light severs a photosensitive bond that releases the reagent into the immediate vicinity of the location.

Abstract: Coating methods and related devices are provided. Such devices can include stents. For example, the device can comprise a sidewall and a plurality of pores in the sidewall that are sized to inhibit flow of blood through the sidewall into an aneurysm to a degree sufficient to lead to thrombosis and healing of the aneurysm when the tubular member is positioned in a blood vessel and adjacent to the aneurysm. The device can also comprise an anti-thrombogenic coating distributed over at least a portion of the device such that the pores are substantially free of webs formed by the coating.

Abstract: A stent includes a bioabsorbable metal, a hydrothermal conversion film covering the bioabsorbable metal, and a coating covering the hydrothermal conversion film. A method for manufacturing a stent includes forming a stent body comprising a bioabsorbable metal, forming a hydrothermal conversion film over surfaces of the stent body, and coating the hydrothermal conversion film with an overcoat.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed toward composite materials comprising high aspect ratio habits of drug crystals which can be partially or fully extending into a substrate, and additionally, can be projecting from a substrate at an angle of about 20° to about 90°. The present disclosure is directed toward medical devices, such as medical balloons, comprising said composite and methods of using and making the same. The described composite can be used for the local treatment of vascular disease. The present disclosure is also directed toward paclitaxel crystals with a hollow acicular habit.

Abstract: A one step method for drug coating an interventional device is disclosed by mixing a drug with a phosphorylcholine-linked methacrylate polymer in a liquid and applying the mixture to an interventional device, such as a stent, in a single step.

Abstract: This invention relates to an method of manufacture of an implantable medical device comprising an oxygen-sensitive rapamycin derivative that is protected by addition of an antioxidant during the manufacturing process where the amount of antioxidant added at the outset of the processing is such that when the device is fully fabricated, sterilized and packaged the amount of antioxidant has reduced to a minimal, preferably non-detect, amount.

Abstract: A method of forming a surface layer that includes a hydroxyl polymer on a substrate coating on a medical device is provided.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for loading a therapeutic substance or drug within a lumenal space of a hollow wire having a plurality of side openings along a length thereof that forms a hollow drug-eluting stent with a plurality of side drug delivery openings. Loading a drug within the lumenal space of the hollow stent includes a drug filling step, in which the drug is mixed with a solvent or dispersion medium. The lumenal space may be filled with the drug solution or suspension in a reverse fill process and/or a forward fill process. After the drug filling step, a solvent or dispersion medium extracting step is performed to extract the solvent or dispersion medium from within the lumenal space such that only the drug remains within the hollow stent. A stent cleaning step may be performed to an exterior surface of the hollow stent.

Abstract: An interventional medical device and manufacturing method thereof. The interventional medical device comprises: a stent body (1); a surface of the stent body (1) being provided with a drug releasing structure (3), and drug in the drug releasing structure (3) being drug for suppressing proliferation of adventitial fibroblasts and a drug for suppressing proliferation of intimal and/or smooth muscle cells. In use, after interventional medical device is implanted into a human body, the drug for suppressing proliferation of adventitial fibroblasts carried thereon can promote the compensatory expansion of the vessel, and the drug for suppressing proliferation of intimal cells and/or smooth muscle cells carried thereon can suppress intimal proliferation of the vessel. The combination of the two kinds of drugs greatly reduces the occurrence rate of in-stent restenosis.

Abstract: A vascular implant, comprising a sheet comprising thin film nickel titanium (NiTi), wherein the sheet has at least one super-hydrophilic surface having a water contact angle of less than approximately 5 degrees. The sheet is configured to have a compacted form having a first internal diameter and a deployed form having a second internal diameter larger than the first internal diameter. The sheet may be delivered into a blood vessel in the compacted form and expanded to its deployed form at a treatment location within the blood vessel, wherein the stent is configured to expand onto an internal surface of the blood vessel and exert a radial force on said internal surface.

Abstract: A stent or other prosthesis may be formed by coating a single continuous wire scaffold with a polymer coating. The polymer coating may consist of layers of electrospun polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Electrospun PTFE of certain porosities may permit endothelial cell growth within the prosthesis.

Abstract: A method for electrostatic coating of medical devices such as stents and balloons is described. The method includes applying a composition to a polymeric component of a medical device which has little or no conductivity. The polymeric component could be a material from which the body or a strut of the stent is made or could be a polymeric coating pre-applied on the stent. The polymeric component could be the balloon wall. A charge can then be applied to the polymeric component or the polymeric component can be grounded. Charged particles of drugs, polymers, biobeneficial agents, or any combination of these can then be electrostatically deposited on the medical device or the coating on the medical device. One example of the composition is iodine, iodine, iodide, iodate, a complex or salt thereof which can also impart imaging capabilities to the medical device.

Abstract: A medical device for surgical implantation adapted to serve as a drug delivery system has one or more drug loaded holes with barrier layers to control release or elution of the drug from the holes or to control inward diffusion of fluids into the holes. The barrier layers are non-polymers and are formed from the drug material itself by beam processing. The holes may be in patterns to spatially control drug delivery. Flexible options permit combinations of drugs, variable drug dose per hole, multiple drugs per hole, temporal control of drug release sequence and profile. Methods for forming such a drug delivery system are also disclosed. Gas cluster ion beam and/or accelerated Neutral Beam derived from an accelerated gas cluster ion beam may be employed.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of manufacture of an intravascular functional element that can be introduced into a hollow organ and that comprises at least one wire (10) of an alloy having nickel and titanium as alloying elements, with the following steps: preparation of a metal body of the wire (10) with a metallic surface, then formation of a first oxide layer on the metallic surface of the metal body, then performance of a heat treatment of the wire (10) in a nitrogen-containing salt bath for thermal formation of a second mixed oxide layer on the first oxide layer, wherein the total layer thickness is 15 nm to 100 nm and the mixed oxide layer contains TiO2 and at least one nitride, especially titanium oxynitride and/or titanium nitride.

Abstract: A method of modifying a medical device such as a stent with nano-constructs is disclosed. The method comprises applying a first fluid to the stent; immersing the stent being wet from the first fluid into a second fluid having a suspension of nano-constructs; and removing the stent from the second fluid and allowing the first and second fluid to be removed such that the nano-constructs are carried by the stent for in vivo application of the constructs to a target location of a mammalian subject. The nano-constructs can be attached to the surface of the stent, can be attached to a surface of the coating of the stent, can be embedded into the stent, or can be embedded into the coating.

Abstract: Medical devices, such as endoprostheses, and methods of making the devices are disclosed. The medical device can include a metallic film comprising nickel, titanium, and chromium, wherein a ratio of a weight of chromium of the metallic film to a combined weight of nickel, titanium, and chromium of the metallic film is at least 0.001. The metallic film can include a shape memory alloy.

Abstract: Scaffold-supported metal or pseudometallic film covers suitable for use as medical devices are disclosed together with methods of fabricating the devices. Methods for making the medical devices consist of either providing or forming a scaffold, then depositing a metallic or pseudometallic film cover onto the scaffold in such a manner as to form an integral, substantially monolithic junction between the deposited cover material and the scaffold.

Abstract: This disclosure describes the application of a supplemental corona source to provide surface charge on submicrometer particles to enhance collection efficiency and micro-structural density during electrostatic collection.

Abstract: A coating device for coating a medical device with a drug-eluting material uses an in-process drying station between coats to improve a drug release profile. The drying station includes a heat nozzle configured for applying a uniform drying gas.

Abstract: Methods of treating the polymeric surfaces of a stent with a fluid including a solvent for the surface polymer are disclosed.

Abstract: A coated implantable medical device and a method of coating an implantable medical device is disclosed, the method includes applying a composition onto the device and drying the composition at elevated temperature in an environment having increased relative humidity. A pre-screening method for a manufacturing lot of coated stents to determine the number of drug coating layers for a desired drug release rate is disclosed. The method including coating and testing small groups of stents, and applying the results of the tests to determine the number of drug coating layers to apply to the manufacturing lot of stents.

Abstract: The invention concerns oligosaccharides and polysaccharides as well as the use of these oligosaccharides and/or polysaccharides, which contain the sugar unit N-acylglucosamine or N-acylgalactosamine for the production of hemocompatible surfaces as well as methods for the hemocompatible coating of surfaces with said oligosaccharides and/or polysaccharides, which imitate the common biosynthetic precursor substance of heparin, heparan sulphates and chitosan. The invention further describes methods for producing said oligosaccharides and/or polysaccharides and discloses various possibilities of using hemocompatibly coated surfaces. The invention relates particularly to the use of said oligosaccharides and/or polysaccharides on stents with at least one according to invention deposited hemocompatible coating, which contains an antiproliferative, antiinflammatory and/or antithrombotic active agent, methods for the preparation of said stents as well as the use of said stents for the prevention of restenosis.

Abstract: Provided are a polymer composition on a substrate and a surface modification method which is non-selective to substrate materials. Chemical vapor deposition polymerization is used to deposit a maleimide-functionalized poly-p-xylylene coating on a substrate. The substrate is readily available to perform a thiol-maleimide coupling reaction under mild conditions so as to modify the surface thereof. Furthermore, through a tailored thiol-terminal molecule, a designer surface can be created via thiol-maleimide coupling on a substrate, and the resulting surface can exhibit various desired biological functions for biotechnological applications. Therefore, this modification technique can be applied to biological fields extensively.

Abstract: A nanofiber is formed by combining one or more natural or synthetic polymeric materials and one or more than one cross-linking agents having at least two latent reactive activatable groups. The latent reactive activatable nanofiber may be used to modify the surface of a substrate by activating at least one of the latent reactive activatable groups to bond the nanofiber to the surface by the formation of a covalent bond between the surface of the substrate and the latent reactive activatable group. Some of the remaining latent reactive activatable group(s) are left accessible on the surface of the substrate, and may be used for further surface modification of the substrate. Biologically active materials may be immobilized on the nanofiber modified surface by reacting with the latent reactive groups that are accessible on the surface of the substrate.

Abstract: This invention relates to stents, a type of implantable medical device, with an antiproliferative coating and a prohealing luminal coating and methods of fabricating stents with an antiproliferative coating and a prohealing luminal coating.

Abstract: An implant, in particular an intraluminal endoprosthesis, is provided having an implant body containing biodegradable metallic material, preferably iron. To accelerate the degradation, at least a portion of the surface of the implant body has a first coating formed from a composition containing at least one element selected from the group including strontium and calcium. An inexpensive method for manufacturing such an implant is also described.

Abstract: A coating method and a coating apparatus are used to apply coating material to struts of a medical device (e.g., stent) which bound openings. The method involves optically scanning the medical device to produce position information identifying positions of the struts, using the position information to calculate a predetermined position, setting an applying manner to apply the coating material based on the predetermined position, setting an applying path accommodating the applying manner, and relatively moving the medical device and an applicator head along the applying route and path while dispensing the coating material from the applicator head and applying the coating material to the struts.

Abstract: A stent is provided wherein at least an outer surface portion is roughened to a predetermined extent and wherein a drug or a therapeutic agent can be applied to said surface. This results in an improved stent, which can be manufactured at low costs and which can further avoid thrombus formation and a stenosis.

Abstract: An endovascular spiral coil coating and methods of making and using the same.

Abstract: Methods for making coatings on an implantable device, such as a drug-eluting stent. The coatings comprise a polymer and a drug in a crystalline or partially crystalline form. In addition, implantable devices produced by the methods and methods of using the coated implantable devices are described.

Abstract: Various embodiments of methods for coating stents are described herein. Applying a composition including polymer component and solvent to a stent substrate followed by exposing the polymer component to a temperature equal to or greater than a Tg of the polymer component is disclosed. Repeating the applying and exposing one or more times to form a coating with the result that the solvent content of the coating after the final exposing step is at a level suitable for a finished stent is further disclosed.

Abstract: Various embodiments of methods and devices for coating stents are described herein.

Abstract: A biodegradable in vivo supporting device is disclosed. The in vivo supporting device comprises a biodegradable metal scaffold and a biodegradable polymer coating covering at least a portion of the biodegradable metal scaffold, wherein the biodegradable polymer coating has a degradation rate that is faster than the degradation rate of the biodegradable metal scaffold.

Abstract: The invention relates to a ceramic implant, especially a dental implant, comprising a structured or porous surface for at least partially inserting into a bone. An especially advantageous surface is obtained when it is at least partially modified by a salt melt. These excellent osteointegration properties can be obtained by a method whereby the surface is modified in a salt melt at least in the regions exposed to the bones and/or soft tissue, optionally following a previous modification of the surface whereby material has been removed.

Abstract: A system and method for coating an endoprosthesis involves an applicator capable of delivering a coating substance to the endoprosthesis without spraying. The applicator may have a tube or die through which a coating substance is moved upwards by capillary action or by means of a pump so as to form an accumulation of the coating substance at an upper portion of the applicator. The endoprosthesis can be lowered onto the accumulation, then axially translated or rotated in order to transfer the coating substance to selected portions of the endoprosthesis. The applicator is lowered and/or the endoprosthesis is raised in order to form gaps in the coating. Selective coating of abluminal or luminal surface of the endoprosthesis may also be performed by allowing the surface to skip on a liquid surface of a pool of the coating substance.

Abstract: A platform for creating an artificial blood brain barrier including a functional, perfused artificial vessel lined with endothelial cells embedded in a physiologically relevant three-dimensional extracellular matrix is described.

Abstract: At least some embodiments of the invention relates to an implant having a coating that contains or is composed of a functionalized RGD peptidomimetic RGD-P1 having the formula (1) and/or a functionalized RGD peptidomimetic RGD-P2 having the formula (2), and an associated manufacturing method.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing an endoluminal implantable surface, stent, or graft includes the steps of providing an endoluminal implantable surface, stent, or graft having an inner wall surface, an outer wall surface, and a wall thickness and forming a pattern design into the endoluminal implantable surface, stent, or graft. At least one groove is created in the inner surface of the intravascular stent by applying a laser machining method to the inner surface.

Abstract: Methods of making bioabsorbable stents with grooved lumenal surfaces for enhanced re-endothelialization are disclosed. Methods include molding grooves on the lumenal surface of coated bioresorbable and durable stents. Methods further include molding grooves on lumenal surfaces of a bioresorbable tube and forming a scaffold from the tube.

Abstract: Composite grafts and implantable medical devices include a polymeric layer and a non-porous silicone coating that includes a two-part dispersion of silicone material in an organic solvent. The polymeric layer has a first surface and a second surface, where the first surface and the second surface are positioned on opposite sides of the polymeric layer, and where the first surface is the blood-contacting surface and the second surface is the tissue-contacting surface. The non-porous silicone coating includes a two-part dispersion of silicone material in an organic solvent. The silicone coating is disposed on at least the first surface of the polymeric layer such that the at least first surface or a portion thereof has a substantially reduced permeability or is entirely impermeable. The coating does not substantially increase the thickness of the medical device and reduces the surface friction of the medical device while making the graft layer impermeable to fluids.

Abstract: Methods and devices for the provision of a coating on an implantable medical device. The coating includes a bio-absorbable carrier component. In addition to the bio-absorbable carrier component, a therapeutic agent component can also be provided. The methods and devices provide a coating having improved uniformity and coverage which in turn allow for greater control of the amount and dosage of the coating.

Abstract: The invention is directed to an ion plasma deposition (IPD) method adapted to coat polymer surfaces with highly adherent antimicrobial films. A controlled ion plasma deposition (IPD) process is used to coat a metal or polymer with a selected metal/metal oxide. Exposing the coated surface to ultraviolet light significantly improves the antimicrobial properties of the deposited coatings.

Abstract: A coated implantable medical device and a method of coating an implantable medical device is disclosed, the method includes applying a composition onto the device and drying the composition at elevated temperature in an environment having increased relative humidity. A pre-screening method for a manufacturing lot of coated stents to determine the number of drug coating layers for a desired drug release rate is disclosed. The method including coating and testing small groups of stents, and applying the results of the tests to determine the number of drug coating layers to apply to the manufacturing lot of stents.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes medical devices comprising a bio-corrodible stent member and a graft member. The bio-corrodible stent member can comprise a metal applied directly to the graft member via a vapor deposition process, such as a chemical or physical vapor deposition process.

Abstract: Disclosed is a self-expanding medical implant for placement within a lumen of a patient. The implant comprises a woven or non-woven structure having a substantially tubular configuration, and is designed to be low-profile such that it is deliverable with a small diameter catheter. The implant has a high recoverability and desired mechanical properties.