An Anti-Fouling Airway Stent

Abstract

Airway stents are used to keep airways open for those patients symptomatic from tracheobronchial disease. Tracheobronchial disease or central airway obstruction (CAO) can occur with benign or malignant disease, or complications from lung transplantation. Although stents can offer symptomatic relief for CAO, complications such as granulation tissue formation, stent fracture, and infection commonly occur after stent placement. Currently, all airway stents promote mucus buildup which can lead to stent failure and airway complications. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of special anti-fouling coatings to prevent mucus buildup. The coatings have been tested: 1) for wettability, 2) using XPS and TOF-SIMS to characterize surface properties, and 3) in the laboratory (in vitro) to study effects of mucin incubation. Findings include significant improvement in limiting mucus adhesion in a lab model.