Polymer for medical applications

Ikada Y. Surface modification of polymers for medical application. Biomaterials, 1994, 15, 725-736. James SJ, Pogribna M, Miller BJ, Bolon B, and Muskhelishvili L. Characterization of cellular response to silicone implants in rats Implications for foreign-body carcinogenesis. Biomaterials, 1997, 18, 667-675. 

Pulapura, S. and Kohn, J. Tyrosine Derived Polycarbonates New Polymers for Medical Applications, manuscript in preparation. 

OVER the last quarter century we have seen the field of biorelated polymers for medical applications undergo a dramatic transition from the pragmatic and/or serendipic approach to applying basic research principles. Specifically, we have seen the development of many new polymeric materials for intended applications and solutions to problems related to those applications. The development during this time has been dynamic with the consistent emergence of new findings. Consequently, one can anticipate a literal explosion of new clinical products and applications that will be derived from this multidisciplinary field in the next millenium. 

Ikada, Y. 1994. Surface modification of polymers for medical applications. Biomaterials, 15 725-36. 

Siggs, L. J. and Mikos, A. G. 1996. Synthetic biodegradable polymers for medical applications. In Physical Properties of Polymers Handbook, J. E. Mark, ed.. Chap. 44, Am. Inst, of Physics, Woodbury New York. 

Polymers for medical applications are engineered to be either biostable or biodegradable. The insulation on a pacemaker lead should be stable in the body for at least 10 years. A catheter that is used for 1 h need not be constmcted of highly biostable polymers. A tissue engineering scaffold should degrade in the body over the time period that the new tissue reconstmcts -when the new tissue is complete, the scaffold should be gone. 

The use of polymers in medicine is steadily growing. The synthetic and processing flexibility of polymers continue to permit polymers to be applied in a broad range of medical, biological, and implant applications. Creative polymer synthesis continues to expand the functionality and tunability of polymers for medical applications. There are now excellent biomedical polymers available to address general needs in medidne (the subject of this chapter). Opportunities that present themselves for enhanced or improved biomedical polymers are in the following areas ... 

PURAC has been producing pharmaceutical-grade lactic acid based polymers for medical applications during the last 30 years. These medical applications (e.g., sutures, bone screws) are not the focus of this chapter, which covers only the large-scale industrial applications of PLA. In 2008, PURAC started a d-LA program and produced L-lactide and D-lactide for its PLA partners, such as Synbra. Synbra plans to introduce small volumes of expandable PLA (BioFoam ) to extend its range of expanded polystyrene (PS)-based foam products, before building a 50,000 ton per year expanded-PLA production facility (Schut 2008). 

Synthetic Biodegradable Polymers for Medical Applications / 941 TABLE 55.1. Thermal and mechanical properties of respective synthetic biodegradable polymers [4,24,48,74,75,95,96],... 

We acknowledge support by the National Institutes of Health and the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate related to synthetic biodegradable polymers for medical applications. 

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