Photocurable biodegradable hyperelastic coating for fully covered tracheal stents enables synergistic thermochemotherapy of airway tumors.

Tracheal tumors are life-threatening malignancies that are commonly managed with covered self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) to restore airway patency. However, conventional fully covered-SEMS are nondegradable and provide no therapeutic intervention, allowing continued tumor growth and often leading to restenosis. In this study, we coated tracheal SEMS with a photocurable poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) elastomer through dip-coating and photopolymerization. The resulting coating was loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) and, in combination with an alternating magnetic field (AMF), enabled localized thermochemotherapy at the stent-tissue interface. To achieve a coating with appropriate elasticity and degradability, alkene-functionalized PLCL (E-PLCL) was synthesized via a one-step allylation reaction to obtain a biodegradable and photocurable elastomer. The optimized E-8000 formulation exhibited a low Young's modulus (0.76 MPa), high elongation (1283%), and excellent elastic recovery (>97%), supporting good mechanical compliance with tracheal tissue. DOX-loaded coatings exhibited sustained drug release, with release rates significantly increased under AMF-induced heating at 43 °C. In vitro, AMF-assisted thermochemotherapy enhanced intracellular DOX accumulation and apoptosis. In vivo, the combined treatment achieved a tumor inhibition rate of 92.6% without detectable systemic toxicity. Together, these results demonstrate that E-PLCL covered-SEMS enable effective localized thermochemotherapy for tracheal tumors.