Tissue repair and wound closure have traditionally been performed using mechanical methods, which while necessary to bring the wound surfaces into apposition and provide sufficient strength to avoid dehiscence, are associated with a variety of downstream effects that can prove deleterious to the ultimate repair. An alternative light-based approach called Photochemical Tissue Bonding (PTB) uses chemical reactions rather than heat to achieve wound closure. PTB uses a non-toxic, photoactive dye applied to the wound surfaces before apposition and is activated using low power green light. Thus, good means for ensuring surface-to-surface contact are crucial for the integrity of the bond, and in the case of luminal tissue, such as blood vessel or bowel, a circumferential, where a water-tight seal is essential, a hollow intraluminal stent is a simple and viable solution to support vascular anastomosis using PTB if the stent material is very short-lived and dissolves or degrades following re-establishment of blood flow. Triton Systems and its team will develop a fast-dissolving stent that is biocompatible, whose dissolution products are non-toxic, and which will be easily packaged, sterilized, and have a long shelf-life. In the Phase I program, we will prepare a selection of candidate materials and evaluate their dissolution rate and products, form the material into vascular stents, and demonstrate their use in PTB in a simulated environment. This effort will demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.
