NSF/FDA Scholar-In-Residence at FDA: Program on Small-Scale Medical Devices

1041375

Narayan

Conventional ossicular replacement prostheses have demonstrated several problems during clinical use, including migration, puncture of the eardrum, difficulty in shaping the prostheses, and reactivity with the surrounding tissues. Novel materials and prostheses that provide improved sound transmission for longer periods of time are demanded by patients and surgeons. In this work, they hypothesize that two photon polymerization may be used to fabricate ossicular replacement prostheses with patient-specific designs and suitable chemical, biological, mechanical, and functional properties for long-term in vivo use. The quadratic character of the two photon absorption probability and the well-defined polymerization threshold of this system will allow one to overcome the diffraction limit and achieve features as small as 200 nm. Two photon polymerization provides several advantages over conventional techniques for scalable production of ossicular replacement prostheses and other small-scale medical devices. First, the raw materials used in this process are widely available and inexpensive. Second, two photon polymerization can be set up in a conventional clinical environment (e.g., an operating room) that does not contain cleanroom facilities. Third, two photon polymerization of ossicular replacement prostheses is an rapid, straightforward, single-step process, as opposed to conventional multiple-step fabrication techniques.