Researchers at Yonsei University College of Medicine are developing a dialysis device that prevents vascular stenosis

In animal studies, stenosis 5 times ↓ blood flow 2.5 times ↑

A Korean research team has developed a dialysis angioplasty device that prevents the side effects of hemodialysis.

A research team led by Professor Hak-jun Seong, lecturer Hyun-soo Ha, and researcher Chan-hee Lee from the Department of Medical Engineering of Yonsei University College of Medicine announced on the 15th that they have developed a vascular scaffold that can prevent vascular stenosis during dialysis angioplasty for patients with end stage renal disease.

The volume of hemodialysis blood received by patients with end-stage renal failure is approximately 200 ml per minute. Since blood vessels cannot withstand so much blood, for dialysis patients, an arteriovenous fistula is performed to widen blood vessels by artificially connecting arteries and veins at the wrist or elbow. However, stenosis, where blood vessels narrow, often occurs in artificial dialysis vessels. This is because the veins cannot withstand the high pressure of the fast and strong arterial blood flow.

The research team developed a new medical device that supports dialysis blood vessels from the outside to control vein dilation and stimulate good blood flow. Through the design of the bridge structure, the force applied to the device was controlled, and abnormal blood flow was prevented by preventing excessive venous relaxation. In addition, shape memory polymers were used so that the device could wrap blood vessels on its own within the human body.

The research team then confirmed the function of the newly developed device through experiments on animals of different sizes. In animals that had an arteriovenous fistula using the developed device, blood vessel stenosis did not occur compared to the control group using the current device, and smooth muscle increased in the outward direction of the blood vessel, establishing the dialysis vessel is successful. The number of stenosis was reduced 5 times, and the blood flow improved 2.5 times six months after the treatment.

Professor Seong Hak-joon said, “We have created a new concept medical device using computational fluid dynamics and shape memory polymer new material technology.” he said.

The results of this research were published in Advanced Science (IF 17.521), an international journal in the field of materials science.