Development of thermoplastic polyurethane vascular prostheses

✍ Scribed by Yun Kyung Kang; Chung Hee Park; Hak Chang; Kyungwon Minn; Chan Young Park

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 397 KB
• Volume: 110
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.28800

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

In this study, the optimum electrospinning conditions for a thermoplastic polyurethane/N,N‐dimethylformamide solution were sought. Under these conditions, polyurethane tubes for artificial blood vessels were produced via electrospinning, and various properties of the specimen were measured. The optimum electrospinning conditions were a concentration of 16 wt %, a voltage of 13.0 kV, and a tip‐to‐collector distance of 15 cm at 27°C and 80% relative humidity. The thermal behavior from a differential scanning calorimeter showed that this polyurethane web was thermally stable in the body temperature range. Enzyme hydrolysis of the web revealed that the polyurethane vascular prostheses would perform as nondegradable blood vessels in the body system. The pore size range of the electrospun polyurethane vascular prostheses was 0–3.5 μm. With a tensile stress of about 8–9 MPa and a tensile strain of about 80%, the tensile properties were expected to be superior to those of existing vascular prostheses made of polyester and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. In the last stage, heparin and collagen were treated on the surfaces of artificial vessels to reduce the probability of thrombi forming during the initial stage of grafting, and so the treated specimens exhibited a lower possibility of thrombi forming than untreated ones in a blood coagulation test. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008