A 3D printed stent, shaped like a lily, could speed recovery after weight-loss surgery

Article excerpt

A newly designed 3D-printed stent shaped like a lily could help prevent one of weight-loss surgery's most dangerous complications: gastric leaks. Among the roughly 250,000 Americans who undergo sleeve gastrectomy annually, between 1% and 3% develop leaks where stomach fluid escapes and forms abscesses, a rate that climbs to 1 in 10 for revision surgeries. The lily-shaped stent's novel geometry appears to seal the stomach more effectively than traditional designs, potentially cutting recovery time and reducing infection risk for vulnerable patients.