Development of a Flexible and Stretchable Wireless Pressure Sensor- Integrated Smart Stent for Continuous Monitoring of Cardiovascular Function

The development of smart stents that can monitor cardiovascular diseases and communicate vascular abnormalities to medical doctors has received significant attention in the field of biomedical engineering. Various in-situ fabrication strategies have been proposed to simultaneously fabricate the smart stent and pressure sensor, reducing the risk of sensor detachment due to the flow of blood. However, the rigidity of the wireless pressure sensor still limit the practical utility of these devices. In this study, we propose a flexible and stretchable wireless pressure sensor-integrated smart self-reporting stent. The fabrication process has been optimized to produce a serpentine-shaped wireless pressure sensor that matches the shape and flexibility of the polymer stent strut. This approach minimizes the interfacial effect between the wireless pressure sensor and the stent strut, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the information provided by the smart stent. We thoroughly investigated the structural integrity, resonance frequency, stretchability, flexibility and radial force of the fabricated smart self-reporting stent under different conditions. The device demonstrated exceptional sensitivity, as low as 0.15 MHz/mmHg. The feasibility of the proposed smart stent is demonstrated by implantation into the arteries of a three-dimensional (3D) phantom. The obtained results and the flexible and stretchable nature of the proposed smart self-reporting stent demonstrate its potential to be effective, and durable for monitoring the functional dynamics of the heart and detecting in-stent restenosis.