Researchers have introduced an innovative coating that has the potential to enhance the safety of medical devices for countless patients, significantly lowering the risks associated with blood clots and severe bleeding. This new material is engineered to replicate the natural properties of blood vessels, ensuring that devices such as catheters, stents, blood-oxygenation machines, and dialysis machines do not provoke clotting by activating particular proteins in the bloodstream.
Researchers at the University of B.C. have introduced an innovative coating that has the potential to enhance the safety of medical devices for countless patients, significantly lowering the risks associated with blood clots and severe bleeding.
The new material is designed to imitate the natural functions of blood vessels, which could lead to safer applications of devices that come into contact with blood, especially in scenarios where the risk of clotting is heightened.
“This breakthrough could mark a pivotal advancement in creating safer medical devices,” stated Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, as well as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Immunomodulation Materials and Immunotherapy. He led the research at UBC’s Center for Blood Research. “By developing a coating that emulates the body’s natural clot prevention mechanisms, we’ve found a way to significantly reduce the necessity for potentially harmful blood thinners before and after the use of these devices.”
Thrombosis, the condition of clot formation, poses a significant challenge when using blood-contacting devices. Unlike natural blood vessels, these devices can inadvertently trigger clotting by activating certain proteins present in the blood. Blood clots may block the device, hampering treatment effectiveness or leading to serious complications, including stroke and heart attacks.
Consequently, doctors often prescribe high quantities of blood thinners to avert clotting on these devices, yet this strategy elevates the risk of severe bleeding—something that both patients and healthcare providers typically prefer to circumvent.
The newly developed coating represents a hopeful alternative. It is crafted to emulate the functionality of blood vessels—promoting normal blood circulation while preventing clot formation. Picture this coating as a “soft barrier” over a device that lures a vital blood protein but prevents it from initiating the clotting response.
“By managing how this coating interacts with specific blood proteins, we can prevent the triggering of a series of events that lead to clot formation,” explained Dr. Haifeng Ji, a Michael Smith Health Research BC postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Blood Research and the study’s first author.
In laboratory and animal tests, the coating showed significant reductions in clotting on device surfaces, all achieved without the need for blood thinners and without disrupting normal clotting processes in the rest of the body.
“One of the most unexpected findings was that by controlling the interaction between the coating and specific blood proteins, we could avert clotting while maintaining the body’s natural balance,” Dr. Kizhakkedathu remarked. “This illustrates that imitating the body’s mechanisms, rather than merely repelling blood components, is essential for truly biocompatible medical device design.”
This advancement comes at a time when the demand for blood-contacting devices is increasing. In the United States alone, millions of vascular catheters are inserted each year, and hundreds of thousands of patients rely on devices like dialysis machines to uphold their health.
Looking forward, the research team aims to investigate how this innovative coating can be further refined and utilized across a wider range of blood-contacting devices. They still have critical inquiries regarding how the coating interacts with various blood proteins and cells, as well as whether it affects coagulation proteins through single or multi-layer designs.
Moreover, the team is eager to determine if this method can be adapted to tackle other blood-related issues, such as inflammation or infection, in long-term medical implants.
By exploring the biological processes that enhance the efficacy of this coating, future investigations may lead to a new generation of medical devices that not only prevent clotting but also integrate harmoniously with the body’s natural systems.
