Biomedical polymer materials are an important part of biomedical materials, which are used for diagnosis, treatment, organ repair and regeneration. They have the function of prolonging patients' lives and improving their quality of life, and are the development fields of materials science, chemistry, life science and medicine. Its research and development has both huge social demand and huge economic demand. High-performance medical polymer materials and instruments are the basis of various diagnostic and therapeutic techniques in modern medicine, which constantly promote the emergence of various new diagnostic and therapeutic means.
The research of medical polymer materials has a history of more than 40 years. From 65438 to 0949, the United States first published a prospective paper on medical polymers. This paper introduces the clinical application of polymethylmethacrylate as human skull and joint and polyamide fiber as surgical suture for the first time. According to incomplete statistics, as of 1990, more than 30,000 academic papers and patents on medical polymers have been published in the United States, Japan and Western Europe. It is predicted that 2 1 century medical polymers will enter a new era. Except the brain, all parts and organs of the human body can be replaced by polymer materials. Bionics will also come to this world sooner than expected.
In the 2 1 century, which pays more attention to human health, medical polymer materials will play an increasingly important role. The research and development of biomedical materials has also been highly valued by relevant state departments. The national key basic research and development plan ("973") in the Tenth Five-Year Plan and the Eleventh Five-Year Plan has established biomedical materials research projects. The future development of biomedical materials must be from simple use to purposeful design and synthesis, so as to obtain materials with good biocompatibility and biological functionality needed by life. Biomedical engineering and polymer materials and engineering majors in colleges and universities also offer compulsory and elective courses for biomedical polymer materials.
Medical polymer materials can be roughly divided into two categories: external use and internal use. External materials are mainly used to prepare medical supplies, such as infusion bags, infusion tubes and syringes. These polymer materials are widely used because of their low cost and convenient use. Materials used in human body can be divided into surgery and internal medicine. Surgery includes artificial organs, medical adhesives and plastic materials. Polymer drugs are mainly used in internal medicine. The so-called polymer drug is a drug with low molecular weight and polymer carrier, which has the characteristics of long-term and stability.
To sum up, materials with the following seven characteristics can be regarded as medical materials:
(1) is chemically inert and will not react with body fluids;
(2) it will not cause inflammation or foreign body reaction to human tissues;
(3) it will not cause cancer;
(4) It is antithrombotic and will not condense on the surface of the material;
(5) Long-term implantation will not reduce the mechanical strength;
(6) Be able to withstand necessary cleaning and disinfection measures and remain unchanged;
(7) It is easy to be processed into required complex shapes.
Artificial organs are the main development direction of medical polymer materials. At present, artificial organs made of polymer materials have been implanted into human bodies, including artificial kidneys, artificial blood vessels, artificial heart valves, artificial joints, artificial bones and plastic materials. The main polymer materials used are PVC, ABS, PP, silicone rubber, fluoropolymer and so on. There are artificial hearts, artificial lungs, artificial pancreas, artificial blood and artificial eyeballs under study.