All-in-One Smart Artificial Blood Vessels

Cardiovascular disease (CVDs) are the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. According to statistics from the World Heart Federation, more than 17.3 million people died from CVDs worldwide per year, accounting for 31% of the total global disease deaths. Vascular remodeling has great significance for the treatment of CVDs, but less than 30% of patients are eligible for autologous transplants, so artificial blood vessels become an indispensable alternative. Although structure-programmable textile artificial blood vessels are proved to qualify for clinical usage, problems such as inflammation, thrombus or blockage of artificial blood vessels are still threatening human life due to the inability to monitor blood vessel conditions. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop all-in-one smart artificial blood vessel (SmartVessels) that can detect vessel conditions in real-time. The SmartVessels will be designed by combining electronic textile architecture design and bioengineering technology to achieve good compliance, biocompatibility, sustainability, and functionality. We will fabricate biocompatible conductive fibers, and process them into single-electrode triboelectric yarns, and use weaving technologies to fabricate hollow structured SmartVessels. The conductive fibers and triboelectric yarns in the fabric structure will enable wireless signal acquisition and transmission. When blood passes through the channel, electrical signals will be generated according to the electric double layer theory, thereby the blood flow velocity that reflect the vessels conditions can be evaluated and diagnosed. We envision a future where we will be able to detect and monitor CVDs in an early stage using textile artificial blood vessels.