Feasibility and efficacy evaluation of metallic biliary stents eluting gemcitabine and cisplatin for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Figure 1 Manufacturing and characteristics of different biliary drug-eluting stents. A: Schematic illustration of the manufacturing of drug-eluting stents by the mixed electrospinning method; B: Optimized design of the gemcitabine/cisplatin-eluting biliary stent. The entire structure of the coated membranes consists of three layers: the inner polytetrafluoroethylene membrane (as a blocker to avoid drug loss), the middle PLCL layer (as the major drug carrier), and the outer PLCL-unloaded membrane (as a blocker to prevent burst release); C: Image of different types of drug-eluting stents; D: Fourier transform infrared spectra of different prototype drugs and drug-eluting nanofilms; E: Scanning electron microscope images of different drug-eluting nanofilms (magnification ×2000). CIS: Cisplatin; GEM: Gemcitabine; PLCL: Poly-L-lactide-caprolactone; PLCL-0: Non-drug-loaded PLCL nanofilm; PLCL-CIS: PLCL nanofilm loaded with CIS; PLCL-GEM: PLCL nanofilm loaded with GEM; PLCL-GC: PLCL nanofilm loaded with both GEM and CIS; PTFE: Polytetrafluoroethylene.