Medical applications artificial organs

Lakshmi S, Jayakrishnan A. Migration resistant, blood-compatible plasticized polyvinyl chloride for medical and related applications. Artificial Organs 1998 22(3) 222—9. 

TPEs are gaining and will capture more ground in the multimiUion-dollar medical supply and artificial organs market as replacement materials for thermosets with aU the performance advantages and low processing costs. However, TPEs have to be specially made for such applications, particularly to withstand the physiological environment in vivo. 

There is a great need for strong materials such as alloys that can snap back into shape. Medical applications include prostheses— artificial limbs—and implanted devices such as heart valves. Most biological substances are smart, and the ability to replace lost or injured tissues and organs with smart materials would be a tremendous medical advance. 

Medical applications are among the most important in the membrane market, with hemodialysis, blood oxygenators, plasma separation and fractionation being the traditional areas of applications, while artificial and bioartificial organs and regenerative medicine represent emerging areas in the field. 

In some technological and medical applications protein adsorption and/or cell adhesion is advantageous, but in others it is detrimental. In bioreactors it is stimulated to obtain favourable production conditions. In contrast, biofilm formation may cause contamination problems in water purification systems, in food processing equipment and on kitchen tools. Similarly, bacterial adhesion on synthetic materials used for e.g. artificial organs and prostheses, catheters, blood bags, etc., may cause severe infections. Furthermore, biofilms on heat exchangers, filters, separation membranes, and also on ship hulls oppose heat and mass transfer and increase frictional resistance. These consequences clearly result in decreased production rates and increased costs. 

Applications. Medical Applications. The medical applications of si-loxane polymers are numerous (7, 8, 36). For example, prostheses, artificial organs, facial reconstruction, and catheters take advantage of the inertness, stability, and pliability of the polysiloxanes. Artificial skin, contact lenses, and drug delivery systems take advantage of the high permeability of these polymers, as well. 

Medical/clinical Diagnostics, point-of-care patient monitoring, drug monitoring, artificial organs and prostheses, new drug discovery Real time monitoring, ease of use, portable, cost effective, diverse applications... 

Artificial organs and implants to replace diseased, defective, or destroyed components of the body are used by essentially every medical specialty. Medical grade silicone elastomer is the only elastomer generally recognized as safe and effective as a material of construction for soft, flexible, elastomeric implants. Carefully controlled formulations have been qualified by chronic biocompatibility and biodurability studies to provide a soft, flexible, elastomeric material of construction to meet many of the needs in these applications. 

Polymers are the most versatile class of biomaterials, being extensively used in biomedical applications such as contact lenses, pharmaceutical vehicles, implantation, artificial organs, tissue engineering, medical devices, prostheses, and dental materials [1-3]. This is all due to the unique properties of polymers that created an entirely new concept when originally proposed as biomaterials. For the first time, a material performing a structural application was designed to be completely resorbed and become weaker over time. This concept was applied for the... 

Hollow fibers have been used since the 1960s in many applications such as reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, membrane gas separation, artificial organs, and other medical purposes. There are several advantages to hollow fibers over the flat sheet membranes the most important is their high surface-to-volume ratio. The use of hollow fibers has become popular in many industrial sectors since Mahon first patented the hollow fiber membranes [56]. The morphology and performance of hollow fibers are complex functions of many parameters involved in their manufacturing. McKelvey summarized the effect of spinning parameters on the macroscopic dimensions of hollow fibers [57]. 

Nanofibers have applications in medicine, artificial organ components, tissue engineering, implant material, drug deliveiy, wound dressing, and medical textile materials. Nanofiber meshes... 

Chapter 5 by Ishihara and Fukazawa focuses on polymers obtained from 2-methacryloylo>yethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) monomer. Indeed, the molecular design of MPC polymers with significant functions for biomedical and medical applications is summarized in detail. It is especially shown that some MPC polymers can provide artificial cell membrane-like structures at the surface as excellent interfaces between artificial systems and biological systems. In the clinical medicine field, MPC polymers have been used for surface modification of medical devices, including long-term implantable artificial organs to improve biocompatibilily. Thus some MPC polymers have been provided commercially for these applications. 

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