JP2009142664A - Medical appliance for soft biotissue and its production method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To economically provide a medical appliance for soft biotissue having excellent workability, corrosion resistance, mechanical strength and biological stability. <P>SOLUTION: Ferrite stainless steel is manufactured by ingot. The ferrite stainless steel is worked into a shape of a medical appliance for soft biotissue and defined as a medical appliance body. The medical appliance body is brought into contact with gas containing nitrogen at a processing temperature of 800°C or more to make the ferrite stainless steel constituting the medical appliance body absorb nitrogen and austenitize at least a part of the ferrite stainless steel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical device for living soft tissues such as a circulatory system medical device and a digestive tract medical device and a method for producing the same.

  A medical device used for the cardiovascular system including the cerebral circulatory system is required to have blood contact compatibility and the like, but this is easily improved by modification of not only the material but also the surface property. However, in a long-term implantable medical device, the surface-modifying substance is easily decomposed, and the original nature of the metal serving as the base of the medical device appears.

  Conventionally, materials such as SUS304 and SUS316 are often used from the viewpoint of corrosion resistance as the metal used as the base of medical devices. For example, a stent, which is one of medical devices, is usually made of stainless steel (the following Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, Patent Document 3, Patent Document 4, Patent Document 5, and the like). Recently, an attempt to configure a medical device with a NiTi superelastic alloy is also known.

  However, these metal materials have been reported to have a problem of the effect of Ni contained therein on the living body, and currently there is a demand for metal materials that do not contain Ni and have good corrosion resistance in the body. However, in general, a metal material excellent in corrosion resistance is hard and often has poor workability.

JP-A-9-117512 JP-A-11-99207 JP-T-12-501328 JP 7-531 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 12-5321

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, does not contain Ni, is considered to have little influence on the living body, has low cytotoxicity, excellent workability, and excellent corrosion resistance, mechanical strength and biological An object of the present invention is to economically provide a medical device for living soft tissue having biological stability.

  As a result of intensive studies, the present inventors have melted ferritic steel, processed it into a medical device for living soft tissue, and then brought it into contact with a gas containing nitrogen and absorbed the nitrogen into the workpiece, thereby at least partly The austenitizing process can provide fine and complex medical devices for living soft tissues while maintaining excellent processability, and it has excellent corrosion resistance while maintaining sufficiently good physical properties and practical properties. It has been found that it has excellent performance and safety as a medical device for medical use, particularly as a medical device for living soft tissue used in contact with blood or blood vessels, and has completed the present invention.

That is, the manufacturing method of the medical device for living soft tissues according to the present invention,
A melting process for producing ferritic stainless steel;
Processing the ferritic stainless steel into the shape of a medical device for living soft tissue to form a medical device body,
The medical device main body is brought into contact with a gas containing nitrogen at a predetermined processing temperature or higher, the nitrogen is absorbed by the ferritic stainless steel constituting the medical device main body, and at least a part of the ferritic stainless steel is austenitized. A nitrogen absorption step.

  Physical properties such as mechanical strength and elastic modulus, and corrosion resistance are drastically improved by contacting at least part of the material with austenite by bringing the workpiece into contact with an inert gas containing nitrogen and absorbing the nitrogen. Moreover, since the object to which nitrogen is added is a melted product made of ferritic stainless steel, it is easier to process than austenitic stainless steel, and a product having a desired shape can be easily obtained.

  Therefore, the process that requires workability is performed with ferritic stainless steel as a raw material, and after processing into a biological soft tissue medical device, it can be processed into a complex biological soft tissue medical device by austenizing. In addition, products with excellent corrosion resistance and safety can be provided at low cost.

  The above method of bringing the medical device body processed into a desired shape into contact with an inert gas containing nitrogen gas at a predetermined temperature or more belongs to a nitrogen absorption process classified as a so-called solid-phase absorption method, Nitrogen is added to the whole or a part of the product by heating the medical device main body to a predetermined temperature or higher in a gas atmosphere containing nitrogen gas.

  Preferably, in the ferritic stainless steel, Fe is 50 to 90% by mass (preferably 65 to 80% by mass), Cr and / or Mn is 10 to 30% by mass (preferably 15 to 25% by mass), Mo and / Or Ti has the main component containing 0-10 mass% (preferably 0-5 mass%). The ferritic stainless steel preferably does not contain nickel.

  Preferably, the processing temperature is in a temperature range of 800 to 1500 ° C, more preferably 1100 to 1300 ° C. When the treatment temperature is too low, the absorption of nitrogen into the ferritic stainless steel tends to be insufficient, and when the treatment temperature is too high, changes in physical properties tend to occur.

  Preferably, the ferritic stainless steel contains 0.5% by mass or more, more preferably 0.8% by mass or more of nitrogen. If the amount of nitrogen absorbed in the ferritic stainless steel is too small, the effect of the present invention tends to be reduced.

  Preferably, at least a part of the ferritic stainless steel is austenitized to form a two-phase structure of ferrite and austenite. Alternatively, the entire ferritic stainless steel is austenitized. Corrosion resistance, mechanical strength, and biological stability are improved by forming a two-phase structure of ferrite and austenite, or by making the whole austenite.

  The medical device for living soft tissue according to the present invention is manufactured by the above-described method for manufacturing a medical device for living soft tissue. Although it does not specifically limit as a medical device for biological soft tissues, The effect of this invention is large especially in the case of a circulatory system medical device or a digestive tract system medical device. The circulatory system medical device is a medical device that is used in contact with the inside of the circulatory system organ or the outer wall of the organ including, for example, the heart, the central large blood vessel, the peripheral blood vessel, and the cerebral blood vessel. In addition, the gastrointestinal medical device is a medical device used in contact with the inside of the digestive tract such as the stomach or intestine or the outer wall of the organ. This is because such a medical device is often implanted in the body for a long period of time, and it is considered preferable that the metal constituting the medical device does not contain Ni. Specific examples of circulatory system medical devices include stents, stent grafts, vascular filters, embolization coils, materials for repairing abnormal blood organs such as patent ductus arteriosus and atrial core defects, artificial valves, and vascular clips for at least 3 months What is indwelled in the living body over the above long term is illustrated.

  As described above, according to the present invention, Ni is not contained, and it is considered that there is little influence on the living body, is low in cytotoxicity, excellent in processability, and excellent in corrosion resistance, mechanical strength, and living organisms. It is possible to economically provide a medical device for living soft tissue having biological stability.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a stent according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 (A) and 2 (B) are cross-sectional views showing the main parts of the stent in use. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a defect prosthetic material according to another embodiment of the present invention. 4A shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a test piece after nitrogen absorption treatment, and FIG. 4B shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a test piece equivalent product not subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment. FIG. 5 is a correlation diagram showing the balance between strength and ductility between a test piece after nitrogen absorption treatment and a test piece equivalent product not subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

First Embodiment As shown in FIG. 1, a stent 2 as a circulatory system medical device according to this embodiment is a substantially cylindrical stent placed in the lumen of a living body, and is a first stent. It has an element 4 and a second stent element 6. The first stent element 4 and the second stent element 6 constitute a medical device body.

  The first stent element 4 exists along the circumferential direction, has a shape that allows the outer diameter to expand, and is made of a material that does not easily collapse after the outer diameter is expanded. The shape that can expand the outer diameter is not particularly limited, but specifically, corrugated shape, mountain valley shape, sine cosine curve shape, zigzag shape, chain bead shape, sawtooth shape, pulse shape along the circumferential direction, Alternatively, a combination of these or other repeated shapes may be used. As a material that is not easily crushed after the outer diameter is expanded, in this embodiment, the ferritic stainless steel is brought into contact with a nitrogen-containing gas at a predetermined processing temperature or higher to absorb nitrogen, and at least partially austenite. Made of different materials.

  The second stent element 6 is a stent element for connecting the plurality of first stent elements 4 arranged in the axial direction in the axial direction. In the present embodiment, the second stent element 6 is made of the same material as the first stent element. is there.

  The width and / or thickness of the first stent element 4 is preferably 30 to 400 μm, more preferably 50 to 100 μm, and the width and / or thickness of the second stent element 6 is preferably 20 to 100 μm, more preferably 30-60 μm. Although the axial unit length Ll of the repeating unit which comprises each 1st stent element 4 is not specifically limited, Preferably it is 0.5-5 mm, More preferably, it is 0.8-2 mm. Although the axial direction length L2 of the 2nd stent element 6 is not specifically limited, Preferably it is 0.5-5 mm, More preferably, it is 1.5-3 mm. The second stent element 6 is not necessarily a straight line parallel to the central axis of the stent, and may be an oblique straight line, a curved line, or a combination thereof.

  In the present embodiment, the second stent element 6 is arranged more sparsely along the circumferential direction than the first stent element 4. For example, it is preferable to arrange 2 to 6 second stent elements 6 in the circumferential direction of the first stent element 4. Moreover, the 2nd stent element 6 may connect the peak parts of the repeating unit in the 1st stent element 4, may connect trough parts, or a peak part and a trough part. You may connect on the way.

  The overall dimensions of the stent 2 are appropriately determined according to the purpose of use and are not particularly limited. For example, when used for coronary artery treatment, the outer diameter of the stent 2 when expanded is preferably 2 to 5 mm, The axial length is 15-40 mm. Moreover, in the case of the stent for peripheral blood vessel treatment, the outer diameter of the stent 2 when expanded is preferably 3 to 10 mm, and the axial length is 15 to 40 mm. In the case of a stent for treating aorta, the outer diameter of the stent 2 when expanded is preferably 5 to 30 mm and the axial length is 30 to 100 mm.

  The surfaces of the first stent element 4 and the second stent element constituting the stent 2 may be coated with a plating film and / or a biocompatible coating film. This is to improve biocompatibility. Further, as the plating film, platinum or gold plating film is used. Although it does not specifically limit as a biocompatible coating film, For example, normal polymers etc. which are used for medical uses, such as olefins, such as polyethylene, nitrogen-containing polymers, such as a polyimide and polyamide, and a siloxane polymer, are used. The coating film is not limited to a polymer, and may be an inorganic coating film such as silicon carbide, carbon such as pyrolite carbon or diamond-like carbon. Furthermore, the surface of the stent 2 may be hydrophilized, or an enzyme, a biological component, or a drug that prevents restenosis may be fixed to the surface of the stent 2. Although these film thicknesses are not particularly limited, the film thickness of the plating film is, for example, about 0.05 to 5 μm, and the film thickness of the biocompatible coating film is about 0.1 to 10 μm, preferably 0.5. ~ 5 μm.

Next, the manufacturing method of the stent of this embodiment is demonstrated.
First, ferritic stainless steel, which is a raw material for the medical device body composed of the first stent element 4 and the second stent element 6, is manufactured. This ferritic stainless steel is manufactured by a melting method. The melting method is a process in which an ingot-constituting raw material is placed in a furnace and melted and homogenized. The conditions at the time of melting are not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the material is added by heating to around 1600 ° C. in a vacuum state.

  Next, the ferritic stainless steel manufactured by the melting method is processed to form a metal tube (having a thickness of 50 to 400 μm).

  Next, the surface of the metal tube is coated with a photosensitive cross-linking resist, and the original prepared previously is used as a photomask, and exposure is performed by a reduction projection exposure apparatus, so that the pattern of the original is transferred to the resist. In that case, exposure is performed while rotating the metal tube. Thereafter, the uncrosslinked portion of the resist is eluted by a normal method, a pattern of the first stent element 4 and the second stent element 6 is formed on the resist, unnecessary metal portions are removed by etching, and the medical device main body and To do. This medical device body is made of ferritic stainless steel manufactured by a melting method.

  Next, the medical device main body is brought into contact with an inert gas containing nitrogen at a predetermined treatment temperature or higher, and the ferritic stainless steel constituting the medical device main body is absorbed with nitrogen, and at least a part of the ferritic stainless steel, preferably If the whole is uniformly austenitic, the stent 2 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained.

Next, a usage example of the stent according to the present embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2 (A), the stent 2 is first attached to the outer periphery of the balloon portion 10 of the balloon catheter 12 in a radially contracted state, and in this state, the balloon catheter 12 is placed inside a body cavity such as a blood vessel 20. Inserted into. Thereafter, the stent passes through the inside of the blood vessel 20 bent at 90 degrees or more together with the balloon portion 10 of the balloon catheter 12 and finally reaches the narrowed portion 22 of the blood vessel 20. In the stent 2 according to this embodiment, the second stent element 6 is easily bent in accordance with the bent shape of the blood vessel 20 and is restored to its original shape after being positioned at the target stenosis 22. . Therefore, the bending followability and insertion characteristics of the stent 2 are improved.

  After that, as shown in FIG. 2B, the stenosis 22 expands with the expansion of the balloon 10, and the stent 2 expands radially outward simultaneously. Thereafter, only the balloon catheter 12 is withdrawn from the blood vessel 20, and only the expanded stent 2 is placed inside the expanded stenosis 22 to prevent restenosis. In the present embodiment, the first stent element 4 in the stent 2 is a portion that suppresses the force that the stenosis portion after expansion tries to return to its original state, and is made of a material that is not easily crushed. It can be effectively prevented.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, after processing to a medical device main body, at least one part is austenitized by making the processed material absorb nitrogen. Therefore, the process that requires workability is performed by using ferritic stainless steel as a raw material, and after processing into a medical device, it can be processed into a complex medical device by making it into austenite, and with corrosion resistance. Products with excellent safety can be provided at low cost.

  In addition, the specific form of the stent 2 is not limited to what is shown in FIG. 1, and various forms, such as a spiral shape, a hexagonal single accumulation structure, and a hexagonal double accumulation structure, can be considered.

Second Embodiment As shown in FIG. 3, a defect prosthetic material 30 as a circulatory system medical device according to this embodiment has wires 32 constituting a mesh. By braiding the wire 32, as shown in FIG. 3, a first disk 34, a second disk 36, and a recess 38 formed therebetween are formed, and a drum-shaped medical device body is formed as a whole. The FIG. 3 shows a state in which the defect prosthesis 30 is expanded, and it is possible to close, for example, a congenital hole formed in the body cavity wall 40. The defect prosthesis 30 in a state before passing through the hole of the body cavity wall 40 is carried to the hole of the body cavity wall 40 by a catheter or the like in a state where the outer diameter is contracted, and is expanded there.

  In the present embodiment, the wire 32 as the medical device body absorbs nitrogen by bringing a ferritic stainless steel into contact with a gas containing nitrogen at a predetermined processing temperature or higher, as in the first embodiment, Part of the material is austenitic.

  In this embodiment, after processing a medical device main body, at least a part is austenitized by absorbing nitrogen into the processed product. Therefore, the process that requires workability is performed by using ferritic stainless steel as a raw material, and after processing into a medical device, it can be processed into a complex medical device by making it into austenite, and with corrosion resistance. Products with excellent safety can be provided at low cost.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention.
For example, the medical device is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and various biological soft tissue medical devices can be considered.

  Hereinafter, although this invention is demonstrated based on a more detailed Example, this invention is not limited to these Examples.

Example 1 and Comparative Example 1
Using a vacuum arc melting furnace, first, an ingot of 3.5 kg of ferritic stainless steel (24 mass% Cr, 2 mass% Mo, and the balance substantially Fe) was melted. Melting was performed by heating to 1600 ° C. in a vacuum state and adding the materials.

  This ingot is divided into four parts, cut into blocks of 25 mm × 25 mm × 110 mm, hot forged at 1100 ° C. and cold forged at room temperature, round bar with diameter 9 mm × 90 mm, thickness 1 A plate material of 5 mm × 15 mm × 15 mm was produced. From the round bar material, a round bar tensile test piece was prepared by machining. These two types of test pieces were subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment as shown below using a material nitrogenation apparatus.

  That is, the test piece was placed on a mesh board made of SUS304, degreased and washed with acetone, then inserted and placed in the nitrogenation part of the material nitrogenizer, and vacuumed to 2 Pa with a rotary pump. Next, an inert gas containing nitrogen gas is introduced into the nitrogenation part at a flow rate of 2 liters / min, and the temperature of the nitrogenation part is increased from room temperature to 1200 ° C at a rate of 5 ° C / min. The contact was made at 24 ° C. for 24 hours.

  After the above nitrogen absorption treatment, the test piece was quenched from 1200 ° C. into ice water. After removing the surface scale by polishing, the microstructure was identified using an X-ray diffractometer. In this X-ray diffraction, a CuKα tube was used, and the angle was changed by 1 ° / min from 2θ / θ = 40 ° to 90 °. FIG. 4A shows the obtained X-ray diffraction pattern. For comparison, FIG. 4B shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a test piece equivalent product that was not subjected to the nitrogen absorption treatment. As is clear from the comparison between FIGS. 4A and 4B, it is confirmed that the test piece after the nitrogen absorption treatment is completely austenitic stainless steel. The amount of nitrogen added was approximately 0.9% by mass.

  Next, a tensile test of the test piece was performed at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm / min using an Instron type tensile tester having a capacity of 100 kN. FIG. 5 shows the balance between the strength and ductility of the test piece after the nitrogen absorption treatment, the test piece equivalent not subjected to the nitrogen absorption treatment, and the existing alloy. As can be seen from FIG. 5, when the nitrogen absorption treatment is performed, the balance between strength and ductility is excellent as compared with the existing alloy and a test piece equivalent product that was not subjected to the nitrogen absorption treatment. This tendency was also recognized in the case of a cold rolled material in which the test piece was not subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment. The effectiveness of nitrogen absorption treatment was reconfirmed.

  Furthermore, the corrosion resistance of the test piece was also evaluated. Each test solution of 0.9% NaCl solution, PBS (−) solution, Hanks solution, and Eagle's MEM solution adjusted to 37 ° C. and degassed with nitrogen gas was used as an example test piece, SUS316L. Stainless steel test pieces and test piece equivalents that were not subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment were immersed.

  It was confirmed that the test pieces subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment for any of the test solutions showed excellent corrosion resistance as compared with 316L stainless steel and the test piece equivalent products not subjected to nitrogen absorption treatment. That is, no pitting corrosion was observed in the test piece of this example, but pitting corrosion occurred in 316L stainless steel.

Example 2
In the same manner as in Example 1, a plate material having a thickness of 1.5 mm × 15 mm × 15 mm was produced, and then the plate material was rolled, welded, and processed into a tube shape. This was further processed to form a tube having a thickness of 100 μm and an outer diameter of 1.5 mm.

  This tube was cut and chemically polished with a YAG laser, a femtosecond laser, or the like to obtain a stent 2 having the shape shown in FIG. The stent 2 was degreased and washed with acetone, and then contacted with nitrogen gas at 1200 ° C. for 10 minutes. The nitrogen gas contact conditions at this time were the same as in Example 1.

  This stent was mounted on a 3F polyamide balloon catheter (the outer diameter of the balloon part when expanded) was folded and contracted so that the outer diameter of the stent was 1.2 mm and crimped.

  The folded stent was expanded with a contrast medium solution with a balloon catheter by a balloon, and the expansion pressure at that time was measured. In this example, the expansion pressure was 8 Pa. It was confirmed that expansion was possible with a relatively low expansion pressure.

  In addition, after expanding the stent of this example to an outer diameter of 3 mm, water pressure of 10 atm (atmospheric pressure) was applied using a cylindrical balloon and the stent was crushed, but no abnormality was observed, and it was resistant to pressurization up to 20 atm. In addition, it has sufficient proof stress in practical use, and was put into a pressure cylinder and measured for pressure and diameter return. Even at 2 atm, the diameter recoiling was very small and sufficient strength was exhibited. It was also confirmed that it did not crash easily after stent expansion.

  In addition, although this stent was mounted on a stent delivery catheter and inserted into a 3Φ simulated circuit having three bends of R = 10, 10, and 20, there was no problem with smooth insertion. It was also confirmed that although the stent was expanded on the straight part following the bend, no significant distortion was observed.

Comparative Example 2
A stent was produced in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the nitrogen absorption treatment was not performed, and the same test as in Example 2 was performed. The expansion pressure was 8 Pa, which was the same as that of the example. However, collapse or crush of the stent was observed, and there was a difficulty in terms of mechanical strength.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Stent 4 ... 1st stent element 6 ... 2nd stent element 10 ... Balloon part 12 ... Balloon catheter 20 ... Blood vessel 22 ... Stenosis part 30 ... Defect prosthesis 32 ... Wire

Claims (6)

A medical device for living soft tissue in which at least a part of the ferritic steel is austenitized by causing a medical device body made of ferritic stainless steel processed into the shape of a medical device for living soft tissue to absorb nitrogen. The medical device for living soft tissue according to claim 1, wherein the ferritic stainless steel does not contain nickel. The method for producing a medical device for living soft tissue, wherein the treatment temperature for absorbing nitrogen according to claim 1 is in a temperature range of 1100 to 1300 ° C. The method for producing a medical device for living soft tissue according to any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the ferritic stainless steel contains 0.5 mass% or more of nitrogen. The method for producing a medical device for living soft tissue according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein at least part of the ferritic stainless steel is austenitized to form a two-phase structure of ferrite and austenite. The method for producing a medical device for living soft tissue according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the entire ferritic stainless steel is austenitized.

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