Smart Vascular Grafts with Integrated Flow Biosensors for Hemodynamic Real-Time Monitoring and Vascular Healthcare

Real-time hemodynamic monitoring is essential for diagnosing issues in implanted vascular grafts and enabling timely treatment. This study introduces a state-of-the-art smart vascular graft (SVG) integrated with advanced flexible electronics, specifically flow biosensors made by encapsulating patterned porous graphene within biocompatible polymers. The porous graphene enhances the SVG's mechanical sensing capabilities, achieving a low strain detection limit of 0.0034% and stability over 32,400 cycles for accurate hemodynamic monitoring. This high sensitivity enables precise diagnosis of vascular disorders, such as blockage location and severity, using data from an artificial artery model. Validation through in vitro thrombi diagnostics, treatment simulations, and in vivo tests in a rabbit model confirms the SVG's reliability in vascular healthcare. Additionally, a stand-alone and wireless system for remote monitoring has been developed, highlighting the SVG's potential for effective hemodynamic monitoring, timely diagnosis, and drug screening in vascular health management.

For more info, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c09980

Figure 1. Overview of the SVG system for real-time hemodynamics monitoring and vascular healthcare. (a) Schematic illustration of the SVG system. The SVG can simulate the natural blood vessel system in 3D, providing more realistic environments. The inset illustration above presents the working mechanism: the SVG gets longer circumferentially when it experiences vasodilation, and then the resistance of the SVG increases; when the SVG experiences vasoconstriction, its diameter recovers to initial values, resulting in a decrease in the resistance. The bottom-left illustration presents SVG outputs responding to different thrombi and their simulated therapy procedures. (b) The schematic illustrates that the SVG is composed of the bottom PDMS substrate, middle patterned graphene layer, and top PDMS package layer. Laser engraving techniques, scale and economic strategy, prepared the porous graphene. (c) Optical photographs of 2D-SVG, 3D-SVG, and SVG with different internal diameters. Scale bar: left, 10 mm; middle, 5 mm; right, 5 mm. (d) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of functional LIG in an SVG as strain-sensing materials, presenting highly sensitive fiber-like structures. Scale bar: left, 100 μm; right, 20 μm. (e) Fluorescent images exhibit endothelialization within the internal surface in SVG devices. ECs, endothelial cells. Scale bar, 100 μm. (f) Radar chart comparing the performance of the SVG with existing devices for vascular graft health monitoring. The plot’s Source Data are provided in Table S1.