Centre of Excellence for Minimally Invasive Cardiovascular devices inaugurated at SCTIMST

The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrumhas inaugurated a Centre of Excellence dedicated to advancing minimally invasive cardiovascular devices (CoE). The CoE will focus on the development of devices such as Transcatheter Aortic Valve, Abdominal Aortic Stent Graft, Clot Retriever for stroke treatment, Patent ductus arteriosus occluder, peripheral stents etc., which will be made ready for early technology transfer.

Minimally invasive therapy can be offered to patient’s withvery high surgical risk and give a fresh lease of life to these otherwise inoperable patients. It has lesser morbidity, risk of infection, and allows quicker discharge from the hospital. Long termoutcome of these devices is similar or better when compared to open heart surgery. The other advantages are lesser requirement of infrastructureand quick patient turnover time.Currently the limiting factor for percutaneous therapy is the high cost. Most of these devices are imported into the country, except for some select interventional devices. The durability of these devices is improving with continued research and development and are comparable to or better than currently available surgical techniques.

With societal changes and the fast life of current andupcoming generations, with less time to rest, cure and care, percutaneous therapy would be more preferred by patients. Right now, India is the major supplier of medical personnel and pharmaceuticals and in the next two decades it could be the top medical device supplier. With research towards improved anticoagulation status, safety and performance of minimally invasive devices, these devices could improve treatment outcomes just as coronary stents have revolutionized heart care.

This Centre of Excellence is funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and is housed within the Department of Medical Devices Engineering, as part of the Division of Artificial Internal Organs at the Biomedical Technology Wing of SCTIMST. It is establishing facilities for design, prototyping and testing of these devices.

The establishment of specialized centers like this Center of Excellence will support the growth of India's medical technology ecosystem and help achieve the ambitious objectives set under the 'Make in India' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiatives. The Center's funding will enable stronger collaborations with medical device industry partners, leading to the transfer and commercialization of research outcomes. The CoE at SCTIMST and it is coordinated by Dr. Sujesh S, Er. Ranjth G., and Er. Muraleedharan CV from the Department of Medical Device Engineering, and Prof. Harikrishnan S, Prof. Jayadevan ER, and Prof. Bijulal S from the Departments of Cardiology and Interventional Radiology of SCTIMST.

The Institute invites interested Medical Device Industrial partners to associate with us and accelerate the development, translation and commercialization of these technologies. The Institute also invites applications from qualified individuals to join the team at the posts advertised in the link below and make the CoE a success. More details are available in the recruitment link (https://www.sctimst.ac.in/recruitment/)