Life depends on keeping things flowing. Blood in our veins, nutrients in our digestive tracts, or air in our lungs, all need to be kept moving. When disease or damage obstruct the flow, medical stents and scaffolds can save lives. They hold crucial arteries open, while these blood vessels repair themselves, or maintain the necessary structure of a damaged esophagus or intestine.

Soon, making stents may be easier than ever, thanks to 3D printing technology. Guillermo Ameer, Cheng Sun and colleagues at Northwestern University in Chicago, US, report their progress with making 3D-printed vascular stents in the journal Materials Today Chemistry.

Despite their benefits and widespread use, existing stents can promote damaging inflammation, may become the site of further blockage due to sluggish flow, or can break in situ. Each clinical condition and each patient also ideally requires a customized stent or scaffolding graft with a specific size, shape, and strength… Continue reading.