In vivo evaluation and characterization of a bio-absorbable drug-coated stent fabricated using a 3D-printing system

• A bioabsorbable sirolimus-eluting stent was successfully fabricated using a 3D-printing system.
• The release of sirolimus from stent was maintained up to 31 days in vitro.
• A pilot porcine study was used to demonstrate the in vivo behavior of the bioabsorbable sirolimus-eluting stent produced in this study.

In this study, we prepared a helical, biocompatible, and biodegradable stent by 3D rapid prototyping. The fabricated polycaprolactone (PCL) stent was coated with sirolimus mixed with poly-(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), and polyethylene glycol (PEG), via a spraying method for slow drug release. The engineered, drug-eluting, bio-absorbable vascular stent (BVS) was analyzed and tested in vivo, and proving effective in animal experiments. These findings suggest that our new approach is useful for treating coronary thrombosis, and it may provide a promising scaffold for developing biological stent technology.