Background: Airway stent has been widely used in airway procedures. However, the metallic and silicone tubular stents are not customized designed for individual patients and cannot adapt to complicated obstruction structures. Other customized stents could not adapt to complex airway structures with easy and standardized manufacturing methods.Object: This study aimed to design a series of novel stents with different shapes which can adapt to various airway structures, such as the “Y” shape structure at the tracheal carina, and to propose a standardized fabrication method to manufacture these customized stents in the same way.Methods: We proposed a design strategy for the stents with different shapes and introduced a braiding method to prototype six types of single-tube-braided stents. Theoretical model was established to investigate the radial stiffness of the stents and deformation upon compression. We also characterized their mechanical properties by conducting compression tests and water tank tests. Finally, a series of benchtop experiments and ex vivo experiments were conducted to evaluate the functions of the stents.Results: The theoretical model predicted similar results to the experimental results, and the proposed stents could bear a compression force of 5.79N. The results of water tank tests showed the stent was still functioning even if suffering from continuous water pressure at body temperature for a period of 30 days. The phantoms and ex-vivo experiments demonstrated that the proposed stents adapt well to different airway structures.Conclusion: Our study offers a new perspective on the design of customized, adaptive, and easy-to-fabricate stents for airway stents which could meet the requirements of various airway illnesses.

中文翻译：

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适用于各种气道结构的单管编织支架

背景：气道支架已广泛应用于气道手术中。然而，金属和硅胶管状支架不是针对个体患者设计的，不能适应复杂的梗阻结构。其他定制化支架无法通过简单和标准化的制造方法来适应复杂的气道结构。目的：本研究旨在设计一系列具有不同形状的新型支架，以适应各种气道结构，例如“Y”形结构在气管隆突，并提出一种标准化的制造方法来以相同的方式制造这些定制支架。方法：我们提出了一种针对不同形状支架的设计策略，并引入了一种编织方法来制作六种单管编织支架的原型。建立了理论模型来研究支架的径向刚度和压缩时的变形。我们还通过进行压缩测试和水箱测试来表征它们的机械性能。最后，一系列的台式实验和离体进行了实验以评估支架的功能。结果：理论模型预测的结果与实验结果相似，所提出的支架可承受5.79N的​​压缩力。水箱测试结果显示，即使在体温下持续承受水压 30 天，支架仍能正常工作。幻影和离体实验表明，所提出的支架能很好地适应不同的气道结构。结论：我们的研究为气道支架的定制化、自适应和易于制造的支架设计提供了新的视角，可以满足各种气道疾病的要求。