Home / Health / India's Heart Stent Innovation: Chitra Core & TiN Unveiled
India's Heart Stent Innovation: Chitra Core & TiN Unveiled
15 Aug
Summary
- Two new indigenously developed coronary stents, Chitra Core and Chitra TiN, launched.
- Chitra Core offers less metal, reducing vessel damage and complications.
- Chitra TiN uses unique Titanium Nitride coating, preventing blood contact.
Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) has introduced "Chitra Core" and "Chitra TiN," two fully indigenously developed coronary stents.
Chitra Core, a polymer-coated drug-eluting stent, boasts a unique design with 30-40% less metal content, thereby minimizing vessel damage and reducing restenosis and thrombosis. Invasive Technologies secured the CDSCO license for its manufacture in December 2025.
The second innovation, Chitra TiN, features a Titanium Nitride (TiN) coating, offering a polymer-free platform. This advanced coating prevents direct metal contact with blood, significantly lowering risks of restenosis and late-stage thrombosis. The development of Chitra TiN was supported by the Department of Science and Technology.
Both Chitra Core and Chitra TiN's design technology was fully developed at SCTIMST and transferred to Invasive Technologies Pvt Ltd. in 2024. Chitra TiN received recognition at the Aegis Graham Bell awards in 2024 and was highlighted by IIT Madras's BUILD program in 2023.
SCTIMST has a history of cardiac innovation, having developed the Chitra Heart Valve in 1990, implanted in over two lakh individuals. The institute has been researching TiN coating since the late 1980s, with the second-generation TTK Chitra-Titanium heart valve also featuring TiN coating.
