NTC RESEARCHER CREATES POLYESTER HEART STENT.

Through a project funded by the National Textile Center (NTC), a US researcher has developed a heart stent from polyester that is cheaper and more effective than metal stents currently used in hospitals.

Dr. Sabit Adanur, a professor in Auburn University's Department of Textile Engineering, has worked for the last two years to develop the new stent. Like metal stents, the polyester stent functions as an expandable tube to keep heart arteries open. Yet the polyester stent offers an advantage in flexibility and strength. The Opelika-Auburn News has reported that the device has already attracted the interest of a private company in California.

As all NTC research, Adanur's project is funded by grants from the US Department of Commerce. NTC research funds are distributed among the eight universities of its consortium, based on merit and documented results. If the NTC operating board determines Adanur has made sufficient progress, the third and final year of his project will be funded, which Adanur expects to include testing in animals. His longer-term goals are human testing, licensing and commercialization.

While traditional textile manufacturing continues to move overseas, Adanur's success suggests that the U.S. textile industry may see a vibrant future. Continued research, of course, is the key. "The traditional textiles may go to the Third World countries," Adanur said, "but the high-performance textiles will stay here."

For more information, call 302/235-2100 or visit http://www.ntcresearch.org.