Posted on 2/3/2020
Tim Becker, PhD, an associate professor of practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University (NAU), is developing a polypropylene glycol-based biomaterial called PPODA-QT, which is similar to body tissue, to treat aneurysms in the brain and improve outcomes for stroke and potential stroke patients.
“About 20 years ago, if you had an aneurysm and doctors found out before it burst, you would have to have brain surgery to clip it to keep it from rupturing,” Becker says. “About 15 years ago, surgeons began using tiny catheters inserted inside the blood vessel from the leg to place metal coils into the aneurysm to keep it from growing. The metal devices out there now ar...