1217 Self-Deployable Origami Patterned Stent Grafts with TiNi Shape Memory Alloy Sheet
Details
This paper describes a new type of an innovative stent graft using Ni-rich Titanium/Nickel (TiNi) shape memory alloy (SMA) sheet. Unlike the conventional stent grafts which consist of a wire mesh stent and a covering membrane, our new stent graft can be made a single folded sheet. Folding of the new stent graft is achieved by dividing a cylindrical tube into a series of identical elements with hill and valley folds as in origami (Japanese art of paper folding). To produce the stent graft which can be expanded at body temperature, the Ni-rich TiNi SMA sheet made by newly developed ultra fine laminates method was used. The pattern of folds on the sheet was produced by negative photochemical etching. A number of prototypes of the stent graft, which are the same size as standard oesophageal and aortal stent grafts, have been produced successfully. It has been demonstrated that the stent graft deployed smoothly and gradually at a near body temperature.
