Bioimplant applications

A solution-based two-step process for the fabrication of titania-parylene composite films for materials for bioimplant applications has been described [101]. In the first step, a ligand that can bind titania, such as phenylphosphonic acid, is adsorbed onto a nanos-tructured poly(p-xylylene) thin film on a surface. This film is prepared by a vapor phase pyrolysis of [2.2]-p-cyclophanes. 

Thus, fundamentally the interest is in testing the limits and theory of polymer behavior in end-tethered systems, e.g., viscoelastic behavior, wetting and surface energies, adhesion, shear forces relevant to tribology, etc. It should be noted that relevant surfaces and interfaces can also refer to polymers adsorbed in liquid-liquid, liquid-gas, solid-gas, and solid-liquid interfaces, which makes these polymer systems also of prime importance in interfacial science and colloidal phenomena (Fig. 2). Correspondingly, a wide number of potential applications can be enumerated ranging from lubrication and microelectronics to bioimplant surfaces. 

Sucrose acrylate derivatives can be converted into polymers and hydrogels that can be used as flocculants, water adsorbents, bioimplantables, and drug delivery devices (42). Sucrose ethers have applications as surfactants and surface coatings, and as feedstocks for synthesis of polyurethane foams and... 

With successful approval of P4HB as an implant biomaterial by the FDA (http // www.tepha.com), more PHA-based biomaterials are expected to go into clinical trials soon. With the diversity of PHA materials, one can expect the PHA to become a family of bioimplant materials with rich applications. 

PHA blending with low-cost materials High-value-added applications PHA as bioimplant materials... 

Because textile materials are lightweight, flexible and strong polymers and biological tissues are themselves fibrous polymers, with very similar dimensional, physical and mechanical properties, they have found numerous applications as bioimplants. From their use as sutures and ligatures many thousands of years ago, to hernia repair meshes and vascular grafts in the present century, textiles continue to be explored for use in newer and better performing medical products. The currently available implants can be categorized as one-, two- or three-dimensional structures. 

Numerous long-term projects have been initiated in an attempt to spin amorphous phosphate fibers. Until now they have been unsuccessful for long-term applications, but can be safe for the same reasons that crystalline phosphate fibers are safe. Amorphous fibers have been used successfully in some bioimplants. Later we will discuss some amorphous fibers that should be safe and benign, but in fact seem to have a potential to be deadly. Phase chemistry and thermodynamics of polyphosphates will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 3 and their uses discussed in Chapter 8. Some amorphous phosphate-silicate fibers have been found to be very toxic when injected into rats. 

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