Breakthrough Developments in Medical Design

Recent advances in polymer technology are creating breakthroughs in medical design. The excitement is about implanted medical devices made with biodegradable plastics, also sometimes called bioabsorbable or reabsorbable compounds. Biodegradable orthopedics is nothing new, but metals such as titanium have dominated because of their high strength and reliability. New biodegradable materials have the advantage of being both stronger able to break down on a predetermined schedule. Biodegradable coronary stents, cancer drug-delivery devices, and fracture-fixation devices (screws, plates, etc.) that are manufactured with biodegradable materials will have very rapid acceptance in the medical community. In most cases, the biodegradable material will initially maintain a high load-bearing strength. As time goes on, the material will begin to weaken as load is progressively transferred to the repaired muscle and tissue. This allows the body to gradually re-adapt to bearing loads. Other benefits of using polymers are that they cause less interference with MRI’s and there is no worry of corrosion that is sometimes an issue with metal devices.  Read the full article at Design News.  

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