Biomaterials in Cardiology

19 Introduction During the last decades, man–made materials and devices have been developed to the point at which they can be used to replace parts of living systems in the human body. These special materials, which are able to function in intimate contact with living tissue, with minimal adverse reaction or rejection by the body are called biomaterials. “Biomaterial is any substance (other then a drug) or combination of substances, synthetic or natural in origin, which can be used for

a period of time, as a whole or as a part of a system which treats, augments, or replaces any tissue, organ or function in the body” (Boretos and Eden, 1984) (1). This paper will review the main outlines for choosing the polymeric material for the right application, and will focus mainly on biomaterials that are in use today in the cardiovascular area. Two main parameters have to be considered in choosing the biomaterial for a certain application: 1. In order to choose the right Standard design, some physical and mechanical features such as strength and deformation, fatigue and creep, friction and wear resistance, flow resistance and pressure drop, and other characteristics which may be engineered with the material, must be considered. 2. Compatibility, or biocompatibility, characterizes a set of material specifications and constraints which refer to the material–tissue interactions. These characteristics have to be specified according to the intended device application, and have to be tested and evaluated in a set of in–vitro and in–vivo experiments (3). Biocompatibility evaluation In order to evaluate the material’s suitability for the cardiovascular application for long term implantation, the biocompatibility criteria have to include the following host reactions to the biomaterial which focus...

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