Mimicking the fibrinolytic system on material surfaces

Clotting and thrombosis remain the most serious problems in the development of blood contacting devices such as heart valves, vascular stents, grafts and catheters. No material exists that does not provoke these phenomena and coagulation appears to be inevitable when a foreign (i.e. non-endothelial) surface is in contact with blood. As an alternative to a surface that prevents coagulation, the concept of a clot-lysing or fibrinolytic surface is …