Applications of Biodegradable Smart Vascular Grafts in Cardiovascular Disease Diagnosis

Cardiovascular diseases and post-revascularization complications, including thrombosis, stenosis, and restricted blood flow, are dynamic conditions that are difficult to capture through single time-point imaging examinations. Biodegradable smart vascular grafts use a biodegradable graft as the structural substrate and integrate pressure, strain, flow, impedance, or biochemical sensing units into the vascular wall. Thus, they can simultaneously support vascular reconstruction and continuously acquire signals near the lesion. Focusing on disease diagnosis, this review discusses the working principles, diagnosis-oriented material selection, and fabrication of these grafts, with particular emphasis on real-time monitoring, risk warning, and the auxiliary diagnostic value of hemodynamic abnormalities, thrombosis, stenosis, and occlusion. Current evidence is derived mainly from in vitro experiments, animal models, and prototype-device validation. At present, these devices should be regarded as tools for real-time monitoring and adjunctive diagnosis rather than replacements for clinical confirmation by ultrasonography, angiography, or other standard methods.