Indians will soon have access to the country’s first indigenous flow diverter stent for diverting blood flow away from localized ballooning of arteries in the brain and a device that promotes better healing of the hole in the heart, the Department Science and Technology Ministry said.

Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) of DST, under the Technical Research Centre (TRC), has entered into Technology Transfer Agreements with Pune based Biorad Medisys for two biomedical implant devices--- an Atrial Septal Defect Occluder and an Intracranial Flow Diverter Stents developed by the institute in collaboration with National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore (CSIR-NAL) using super elastic NiTiNOL alloys.

The novel ASD occlude developed by SCTIMST promotes better healing of the hole in the heart and also has softer edge for minimizing the damage to adjacent tissue. The cost of the Chitra Flow Diverter stent is expected to be priced significantly lower than the currently imported ones.

Nitinol-based occluder devices, which are presently used to heal Atrial Septal Defect(ASD) or hole in the heart that affects eight out of every 1000 living babies born, are currently imported to meet demands. Besides, currently, India does not manufacture flow diverters stents, which are needed for diverting blood flow away from an intracranial aneurysm or localized ballooning of arteries in the brain, helping reduce chances of its rupture and related stroke.