Development of novel magnesium alloys with impoved biocorrosion and mechanical behavior for cardiovascular implants

心血管疾病是加拿大等发达国家过早死亡的主要原因。现在，许多这样的疾病通过插入经由经皮或微创方法植入的医疗装置（例如，心内闭塞装置、血管内支架）来治疗。大多数植入物是永久性材料（不锈钢，钴），可能会导致长期侵蚀，刺激，炎症，穿孔，感染和缺乏增长。此外，在存在这些器械的情况下，手术取出或再次介入是困难的或不可能的。可生物降解的植入物（例如支架）将消除这些问题，纠正潜在的病理学，一旦问题得到解决，就会“消失”。在这项多学科研究中，我们整合了材料工程、电化学、细胞生物学和心血管临床科学与实践方面的专业知识，以开发用于血管内植入物制造的最佳镁（Mg）合金。将逐步开发最佳合金，以实现生物耐腐蚀性，生物相容性和机械完整性（强度，延展性）;它们将通过最先进的体外和体内（实验动物模型）临床前研究进行测试。 这些新的镁合金植入物（支架）预计比目前可用的植入物具有更好的生物相容性和功能效率。这将最大限度地减少植入后并发症和再次干预的需要，提高患者的生活质量，降低医疗保健成本。2010年加拿大的数据估计使用了45000个裸金属支架（BMS），价格为550美元/BMS，45000个药物洗脱支架（DES），价格为1300美元/DES。可生物降解镁合金的开发将为Baylis Medical（支持公司）创造新技术，并使其能够分支进入植入式治疗器械领域。所创造的知识将对生物医学植入技术产生重大影响。该研究还将为材料开发，电化学，生物医学和心血管科学等多学科领域的高素质人才培训提供一个极好的平台，使他们能够在加拿大推动这一行业的发展。

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of premature death in developed countries like Canada. Many such diseases are now treated by inserting medical devices (e.g. intracardiac occlusive devices, intra-vascular stents) implanted through percutaneous or minimally invasive approach. Most implants are of permanent materials (stainless steel, cobalt) that may cause long-term erosion, irritation, inflammation, perforation, infection and lack of growth. Also, the surgical extraction or reintervention in the presence of these devices is difficult or impossible. Bio-degradable implants (e.g. stents) would eliminate these problems correcting the underlying pathology and ''fading away'' once the problem is fixed. In this multidisciplinary research, we integrated expertise in materials engineering, electrochemistry, cell biology and cardio-vascular clinical science & practice to develop optimal magnesium (Mg) alloy (s) for intravascular implant fabrication. The optimal alloys will be developed in a step-wise fashion to attain bio-corrosion resistance, bio-compatibility and mechanical integrity (strength, ductility); they will be tested via state-of-the-art in-vitro & in-vivo (with experimental animal model) preclinical studies. These new Mg alloy implants (stents) are expected to be significantly more biocompatible and function-efficient than those currently available. This will minimize postimplantation complications & the need for re-intervention, improve the quality of a patient's life, & decrease health care costs. 2010 figures for Canada estimate the use of 45000 bare metal stents (BMS) at $550/BMS and 45000 drug eluting stents (DES) at $1300/DES. The development of the biodegradable Mg alloys will create new technology for Baylis Medical, the supporting company, and will allow them to branch into the area of implantable therapeutic devices. The knowledge created will have high impact on biomedical implants technology. The research will also provide an excellent platform for training of high quality personnel in the multidisciplinary fields of materials development, electrochemistry, bio-medical & cardiovascular science, so that they will be positioned to advance this industry in Canada.