Abstract
The focus of this paper is to propose, model, and characterize a means of accelerating the rate of delivery of therapeutic drugs to human tissues. The investigated means is a pressurized, permeable-walled balloon filled with a homogeneous mixture of the drug and the carrier fluid. The fluid mixture, driven by pressure, traverses the thickness of the balloon wall through laser-drilled pores. The number and deployment of the pores can be controlled to a high degree of precision. As a consequence, the wall of the balloon can be regarded as a homogeneous porous medium, and the traversing fluid flow can be analyzed by means of porous media models. When the balloon is in intimate contact with the surface of a tissue bed, the therapeutic fluid flows in series as it passes through the balloon wall and penetrates the tissue. The flow rate can be controlled by proper selection of the balloon permeability, the viscosity of the flowing medium, and the pressure internal to the balloon. The delivered concentration of the drug was predicted by coupling the present balloon-focused theory with a previously developed tissue-bed model that includes both diffusion and advection processes. The tribologic interaction of the pressurized balloon with an artery wall was investigated experimentally to assess the possible formation of aneurysms.