Bioabsorbables polymers Drug delivery

The reaction is allowed to proceed at 178°C for some 4 h. After completition of the reaction, the bioabsorbable polymer is extruded and allowed to cool for a minimum of 16 h. The resulting bioabsorbable terpolymer contains about 40% Pluronic F68, 51% of caprolactoyl groups, 9% of glycoyl groups, and less than 1% of residual caprolactone monomer (29). The resulting composition may be utilized to form medical devices, drug delivery devices, or coatings for other medical devices. 

This chapter covers polymeric medical devices that are essential for surgical operation focusing in particular on bioabsorbable devices. Since some of these devices such as bone fixatives and drug delivery systems are covered in details in other chapters, bioabsorbable polymers used as sealants/adhesives/hemostatic agents, anti-adhesive barriers, and sutures are discussed. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to comprehensively cover all the research in this rapidly expanding area. Instead, the focus is on commercially available products and some recent research. 

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