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Untethered microrobots offer the possibility to perform medical interventions in anatomically complex and small regions in the body. Presently, it is necessary to access the upper urinary tract to diagnose and treat Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma (UTUC). Diagnostic and treatment challenges include ensuring adequate tissue sampling, accurately grading the disease, achieving completeness in endoscopic treatment, and consistently delivering medications to targeted sites. This work introduces microgrippers (µ‐grippers) that are autonomously triggered by physiological temperature for biopsy in the upper urinary tract. The experiments demonstrated that µ‐grippers can be deployed using standard ureteral catheters and maneuvered using an external magnetic field. The μ‐grippers successfully biopsied tissue samples from ex vivo pig ureters, indicating that the thin‐film bilayer springs' autonomous, physiologically triggered actuation exerts enough force to retrieve urinary tract tissue. The quality of these biopsy samples is sufficient for histopathological examination, including hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and GATA3 immunohistochemical staining. Beyond biopsy applications, the µ‐grippers' small size, wafer‐scale fabrication, and multifunctionality suggest their potential for statistical sampling in the urinary tract. Experimental data and clinical reports underscore this potential through statistical simulations that compare the efficacy of µ‐grippers with conventional tools, such as ureteroscopic forceps and baskets.
Untethered microrobots offer the possibility to perform medical interventions in anatomically complex and small regions in the body. Presently, it is necessary to access the upper urinary tract to diagnose and treat Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma (UTUC). Diagnostic and treatment challenges include ensuring adequate tissue sampling, accurately grading the disease, achieving completeness in endoscopic treatment, and consistently delivering medications to targeted sites. This work introduces microgrippers (µ‐grippers) that are autonomously triggered by physiological temperature for biopsy in the upper urinary tract. The experiments demonstrated that µ‐grippers can be deployed using standard ureteral catheters and maneuvered using an external magnetic field. The μ‐grippers successfully biopsied tissue samples from ex vivo pig ureters, indicating that the thin‐film bilayer springs' autonomous, physiologically triggered actuation exerts enough force to retrieve urinary tract tissue. The quality of these biopsy samples is sufficient for histopathological examination, including hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and GATA3 immunohistochemical staining. Beyond biopsy applications, the µ‐grippers' small size, wafer‐scale fabrication, and multifunctionality suggest their potential for statistical sampling in the urinary tract. Experimental data and clinical reports underscore this potential through statistical simulations that compare the efficacy of µ‐grippers with conventional tools, such as ureteroscopic forceps and baskets.
Mutable devices and dosage forms have the capacity to dynamically transform dimensionally, morphologically and mechanically upon exposure to non-mechanical external triggers. By leveraging these controllable transformations, these systems can be used as minimally invasive alternatives to implants and residence devices, foregoing the need for complex surgeries or endoscopies. 4D printing, the fabrication of 3D-printed structures that evolve their shape, properties, or functionality in response to stimuli over time, allows the production of such devices. This study explores the potential of volumetric printing, a novel vat photopolymerisation technology capable of ultra-rapid printing speeds, by comparing its performance against established digital light processing (DLP) printing in fabricating hydrogel-based drug-eluting devices. Six hydrogel formulations consisting of 2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride solution, lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate, varying molecular weights of the crosslinking monomer, poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, and paracetamol as a model drug were prepared for both vat photopolymerisation technologies. Comprehensive studies were conducted to investigate the swelling and water sorption profiles, drug release kinetics, and physicochemical properties of each formulation. Expandable drug-eluting 4D devices were successfully fabricated within 7.5 s using volumetric printing and were shown to display equivalent drug release kinetics to prints created using DLP printing, demonstrating drug release, swelling, and water sorption properties equivalent to or better than those of DLP-printed devices. The reported findings shed light on the advantages and limitations of each technology for creating these dynamic drug delivery systems and provides a direct comparison between the two technologies, while highlighting the promising potential of volumetric printing and further expanding the growing repertoire of pharmaceutical printing. Graphical Abstract
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