EAFIT biological engineers and expert neurosurgeons from Universidad de Antioquia brought their knowledge on scientific research together to develop the first medical device to treat patients with lesions caused by cerebral aneurysm in Colombia. The mechanism received a patent of invention on May 8 this year.
It is about the Flow restrictor device used in brain aneurysms, and the positioner-release set of the device, as shown on the patent of invention certificate, granted by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Colombia (SIC, by its acronym in Spanish). This is an innovative millimeter machine that travels through the blood vessels to the brain to reverse the damage caused by the disease.
Knowledge in medicine, biology and engineering of these two research centers made it possible to achieve this technological and scientific development in the country. The medical project was led by Dr. Carlos Mario Jiménez, neurosurgeon professor of Universidad de Antioquia who, based on his daily practice in the treatment of patients with a cerebral aneurysm, identified the need to develop a more effective device to occlude aneurysms.
"In 2010, from Universidad de Antioquia, we started to explore the possibility of developing this device in Medellin. We started to work and as we became increasingly aware of what we wanted, we sought to contact a bioengineering group to support us through the project. We found EAFIT Bioengineering Research Group (GIB, by its acronym in Spanish), which offered expertise and top-quality training, and became interested in the project," says doctor Carlos Mario Jiménez.
The project was welcomed by the GIB, created 19 years ago in collaboration with Universidad CES for the development of health-technology. The group is led by Engineer Santiago Correa Vélez. “This was a topic we were really interested in. Together, we began to develop the entire
stent concept, an implantable cannula, and we outlined some research projects that were supported by both institutions. We began the formal development, which now obtained the patent and we are only a step away from conducting animal testing to be able to validate it", states the researcher.
The stent, which is a medical term used to name an endovascular cylindrical device, is a tubular mesh that is implanted in any body tissue, and is very useful in the vascular system because it allows remodeling the blood vessels. As the researchers explain, this device design aims at occluding only the segment of the blood vessel that contains the aneurysm opening section.
As the expert neurosurgeon explains, brain aneurysms are very serious and potentially lethal injuries. For this reason, it is necessary to have the greatest number of treatment tools available, explains the expert neurosurgeon. Traditionally, these lesions have been treated through surgery and surgical procedures such as a craniotomy, an opening of the skull, which always causes anxiety in patients.
"An aneurysm is nothing but a blind cul-de-sac because the wall of a blood vessel is damaged and a sort of pouch or blister is formed. The wall gradually becomes weaker until, at a given moment, it breaks causing a brain hemorrhage, which is something very serious. Half of the people who have a brain aneurysm, known as stroke, die. And out of those who survive, two thirds have many difficulties and become too disabled to continue working," the neurosurgeon says.
For this reason, the neurosurgery field has been working for a little over 25 years with a different technique, the endovascular, that is to say, intervening the patients from the inside of the blood vessels, without the need of opening the skull.
Worldwide, it is estimated that between 2 and 5 percent of adults have a cerebral aneurysm. If we take into account that the adult population over the age of 50 in Colombia, which is the population that most experiences this disease, is equivalent to 20 million people, at least 200 thousand people in the country suffer from this condition. And as stated by doctors, new cases are being discovered every day because the diagnostic methods have advanced.
Research and development
Both universities’ researchers began to develop the device by designing a prototype after contacting each other and conducting scientific studies of blood flow in 2012. Sometime later, the neurosurgeon Carlos Mario Jiménez, supported by Universidad de Antioquia and EAFIT, went to the University of Buffalo (United States), a leading research center in the development of devices for aneurysms for five months in 2014, in order to know their experience in the bioengineering field.
"That poses challenges from all angles. Obviously, there is a challenge to understand the problem from the physical, biological and clinical point of view. Another challenge is to be able to synthesize a manufacturable solution that can be made of suitable materials since not just any material can be used inside the human body. They have to be inert, biocompatible, materials that do not cause any rejection within the body, that are not toxic, and that do not cause any genetic changes. Therefore, all those characteristics make the range of materials suitable for the manufacture of devices to be very small, and a viable solution needs to be found," says the bioengineer Santiago Correa.
Universidad de Antioquia and the Bioengineering Research Group have a history of joint research work. A few years ago, a project was developed on masticatory efficiency in children, also with the participation of institutions such as Universidad CES.
To date, the GIB is one of the research groups that holds more patents in the University. In total, they have four patents of invention and two of utility models. Projects such as the standardized system to take x-rays in dental patients, the intraoral symphysis distraction and the device to measure the force of biting are some of the developments of this research group.
Patents
After receiving notification from the Japanese Patent Office, which granted the patent of invention for the Method and device to measure volumetric changes in a substance on February 3 this year, EAFIT and Argos researchers obtained the registry in Colombia that protects the intellectual and commercial property of this technological invention.
At present, the EAFIT patent index in relation to research groups is 0.53. This figure is obtained by dividing the University’s number of patents (23) by the number of research groups (43).
For further information
Alejandro Gómez Valencia
Journalist at EAFIT Information and Press Area
Phone 574 2619500 Ext. 9931
E-mail: jgomez97@eafit.edu.co