Prothesis Having a Coating and Systems and Methods of Making the Same

• US 20080115727A1
• Filed: 11/27/2007
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bradley Bower, David R. Otis, Hirdey Bhathal, Isaac Farr, Nk Peter Samuel
• Original Assignee: Bradley Bower, David R. Otis, Hirdey Bhathal, Isaac Farr, Nk Peter Samuel
• Inventors: Farr, Isaac, Otis, David R, Bhathal, Hirdey, Samuel, Nk Peter, Bower, Bradley
• Application Number:
  US11/945,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20080115727A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 118/712
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/91 made from perforated sheet material or tubes, e.g. perforated by laser cuts or etched holes
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/915 with bands having a meander structure, adjacent bands being connected to each other
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91533 characterised by the phase between adjacent bands
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/91558 connected peak to peak
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 27/34 Macromolecular materials
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 31/10 Macromolecular materials
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 17/0607 generated by electrical means, e.g. piezoelectric transducers
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 5/00 Electrostatic spraying apparatus; Spraying apparatus with means for charging the spray electrically; Apparatus for spraying liquids or other fluent materials by other electric means
• CPC Class Codes: B05D 1/02 performed by spraying
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/4073 Printing on three-dimensional objects not being in sheet or web form, e.g. spherical or cubic objects B41J3/283, B41J3/286 take precedence; building up a 3D object using individual droplets from jetting heads B29C64/112
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 11/30 Inkjet printing inks

Abstract

Implantable medical devices such as stents, methods of making medical devices, and systems for making medical devices are disclosed herein. In one exemplary embodiment, medical device includes a stent that is coated at least on a portion of one surface by an ink-jet device.

Claims

1-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A prosthesis coating system comprising:

a coating applicator in proximity to the prosthesis, whereby droplets of a material from the coating applicator can coat at least a portion of the prosthesis;

an optical micrometer configured to measure material being deposited on the prosthesis by the coating applicator to provide real-time material thickness measurements, wherein the prosthesis is positioned between a transmitter and a receiver in the optical micrometer; and

a processing unit coupled to the coating applicator and the optical micrometer wherein the coating applicator includes a multipoint source of nozzles adapted to apply the materials to selected portions of the prosthesis on-the-fly directed by the processing unit.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the coating applicator includes an ink-jet device chosen from at least one of:

piezo ink-jet, thermal inkjet, acoustic drop ejection, electrostatic inkjet, and combinations thereof.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the coating applicator further comprises a plurality of ink-jet devices,

wherein a first ink-jet device is positioned to coat a first surface of the prosthesis with a first material, and

wherein a second ink-jet device is positioned to coat a second surface of the prosthesis.

28. The system of claim 27,

wherein the first ink-jet device is positioned to coat an outside surface of the prosthesis with a first material, and

wherein the second ink-jet device is positioned to coat an inside surface of the prosthesis with a second material.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the coating applicator is adapted to coat the prosthesis with a variable thickness based on the number of droplets of the material deposited per square area.

32. The system of claim 25 wherein the coating applicator further comprises multiple dispensers and wherein different materials can be interlaced to achieve a desired concentration of a drug.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein a concentration of the drug is gradual from one part of the prosthesis to another part of the prosthesis.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein a concentration gradient of the drug varies in at least one of a radial, axial, or circumferential direction on the prosthesis.

35. The system of claim 32 wherein the coating applicator is adapted to apply the different material in an uncontaminated form.

36. The system of claim 25 wherein the coating applicator is configured to account for a groove on the prosthesis to have a set boundary which prevents material applied in the groove while still wet from application from advancing or spreading out over the surface of the prosthesis.

37. The system of claim 25 wherein the optical micrometer is adapted to detect at least one capillary grove on the prosthesis and the coating applicator is adapted to apply the material to the at least one capillary grove.

38. The system of claim 25 wherein the coating applicator is adapted to leave areas of spatial variation in strain during deployment of the prosthesis uncoated.

39. The system of claim 25, further comprising a detector coupled to the processing unit, the detector adapted to determine whether a target as a desired location on the prosthesis has been located.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the detector is further adapted to determine a set of points on a coordinate table for the desired location of the prosthesis.

43. The system of claim 25 further comprising a chuck configured to hold the prosthesis to allow the prosthesis to be rotated about an axis to establish a baseline reference prior to application of the material by the coating applicator.

44. The system of claim 25 wherein the optical micrometer is adapted to wait for volatile solvents in the material to be evaporated off before a measurement of final coating thickness is made.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the evaporation of the solvents is facilitated by at least one of heating the prosthesis, using a high-vapor-pressure solvent in the material, and keeping the relative humidity of the solvent in the material low.

30. The system of 25 wherein the coating applicator is adapted to use droplets of different volumes.

31. The system of 25 wherein the coating applicator is adapted to allow more than one material to be deposited on the prosthesis in precise positions.

41. The system of 40 wherein the coordinate table is created from computer-assisted design.

42. The system of 39 wherein the detector is and further adapted to provide signals to the coating applicator that are stored in the coordinate table.