Personalised Stent Graft Manufacturing for Endovascular Intervention

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Vascular disease is a major contributor to cardiovascular deaths in the Western world. The incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysms increases significantly with age - by over 300% for those at age 70 compared to those at age 50. With the demographic shift associated with the ageing population, there is a pressing need for early intervention and minimally invasive surgery. Endovascular therapy avoids major trauma associated with open operation, with clear advantages in terms of reduced morbidity and mortality, especially in patients unable to withstand traditional open surgery. It, however, has certain technical and anatomical constraints which are currently not addressed by the current manufacturing methods. Stent design and placement have a direct implication on the reintervention rate, which for endovascular repair is often higher than open repair. Side branches to the main artery require bespoke openings on the graft, which are expensive and time consuming to produce. The long delay in customised graft manufacturing can subject patients to the risk of aneurysm rupture and precludes treatment to patients with acute symptoms. Improved manufacturing of personalised stent-grafts is therefore an unmet clinical demand that requires innovative manufacturing solutions. This project aims to develop a novel robotic platform for personalised stent-graft manufacturing. It includes the development of a new stent graft sewing robot combined with a fully personalised aortic mould printed with the latest 3D printing technologies using patient-specific imaging data. It improves consistency, speed and quality of customised manufacturing of stent graft with complex geometries and represents an ideal example of the innovative use of robotics, additive manufacturing, and machine vision for small run, 'batch'-of-one personalised medical devices. The project is to be carried out by a multidisciplinary team with complementary research skills in robotics, sensing, imaging, and endovascular intervention, alongside two major industrial partners in medical devices and surgical robotics.