ABSTRACT
The number one killer disease in the world is Cardiovascular Disease1. The most serious element of Cardiovascular Disease is Coronary Artery Disease. Currently, the main treatment for Coronary Artery Disease is stent placement surgery. However, its long time safety and efficiency are the major setbacks, as it is associated with late restenosis and late thrombosis. These are set caused by the durable polymeric film used as the drug carrier. To improve on the current treatment (stent placement surgery), a biodegradable drug delivery system was synthesized. Paclitaxel was successfully entrapped into the polylactide-co-glycolide acids microspheres via single solvent microencapsulation evaporation method. Optical Microscopy was used to study the shape and morphology of the microspheres. The particle sizes were found to range of the microspheres is 15. 18 – 40.11µm, with a mean size of 29.415 µm, a p-value 0.986 and a z-value-0.02. The results suggest that the encapsulated drug loaded microspheres can be used as biodegradable drug eluting structures for localized vascular-targeted therapy for the treatment of coronary artery disease. This is a presented as potential alternative to stent placement surgery. The potential extensions to localized cancer treatment are also elucidated.
Chapter One
1.0 Background and Introduction
1.1 Statement of the problem (Heart Disease)
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is caused by disorders of the heart and blood vessels, which includes coronary heart disease (heart attacks), cerebrovascular disease (stroke), raised blood pressure (hypertension), peripheral artery disease, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease and heart failure [1,2]. The first two are the major killer diseases in the whole world.
In 2002, it was estimated that 29% of deaths worldwide (16.7 million deaths) were due to CVD and that 43% of global morbidity and mortality, measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and was caused by CVD [1]. Furthermore, 78% of global mortality and 86% of mortality and morbidity from CVD occurs in developing countries.
