TITLE:
Controlling the rate of penetration of a therapeutic drug into the wall of an artery by means of a pressurized balloon
AUTHORS:
John R. Stark, John M. Gorman, Ephraim M. Sparrow, John P. Abraham, Rob E. Kohler
KEYWORDS:
Heart Disease; Plaque Treatment; Paclitaxel; Drug Delivery
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.6 No.5,
May
22,
2013
ABSTRACT: The
focus of this paper is to propose, model, and characterize a means of
accelerating the rate of delivery of therapeutic drugs to human tissues. The
investigated means is a pressurized, permeable-walled balloon filled with a
homogeneous mixture of the drug and the carrier fluid. The fluid mixture,
driven by pressure, traverses the thickness of the balloon wall through
laser-drilled pores. The number and deployment of the pores can be controlled to
a high degree of precision. As a consequence, the wall of the balloon can be
regarded as a homogeneous porous medium, and the traversing fluid flow can be
analyzed by means of porous media models. When the balloon is in intimate
contact with the surface of a tissue bed, the therapeutic fluid flows in series
as it passes through the balloon wall and penetrates the tissue. The flow rate
can be controlled by proper selection of the balloon permeability, the
viscosity of the flowing medium, and the pressure internal to the balloon. The
delivered concentration of the drug was predicted by coupling the present
balloon-focused theory with a previously developed tissue-bed model that
includes both diffusion and advection processes. The tribologic interaction of
the pressurized balloon with an artery wall was investigated experimentally to
assess the possible formation of aneurysms.