Strain-Stiffening vascular graft with outstanding compliance
Cardiovascular diseases are one of the major causes of death in the EU and appropriate treatment remains challenging and expensive. Often, the only treatment option is the replacement of a native blood vessel, for example if a coronary artery bypass is needed. Although patient-derived vascular grafts remain the gold standard as a replacement of the original vessel, alternatives have to be found, as donor material is limited. Currently available synthetic grafts have several drawbacks in comparison to native blood vessels. The major drawback is the mismatch between the mechanical properties of the native vessel and the synthetic graft, thus causing major complications like intima hyperplasia. While the stress-strain-curve in synthetic grafts is linear and the grafts are relatively stiff, native blood vessels are soft and have a non-linear, strain-stiffening mechanical behavior. In our ERC Starting Grant CELLINSPIRED we have developed a material structure that allows us to mimic the strain-stiffening of blood vessels. We will employ our strain-stiffening materials in synthetic vascular grafts with broad applicability in the field of vascular surgery. Within the proposed project VASCUGRAFT we will fabricate demonstrators of such biomimetic vascular grafts and strive to find a company that licenses our invention and brings it on the national and international market.