Macromolecular aspects of biocompatible materials--a review.

This paper is limited chiefly to the question of blood compatibility and will not cover areas such as dental applications and mechanical support prostheses. The demand for blood compatible materials has become important for cardiac and pulmonary assist devices and artificial hearts. Since the second World War, a larger number of synthetic materials became available ranging from elastomeric to hard, hydrophobic to hydrophilic systems, but almost all of these were developed for large-scale commercial end-use where the presence of small quantities of impurities, traces of catalysts, plasticizers, etc., is not too critical. For medical implants, it is necessary to prepare the appropriate polymers in the chemically pure state. The ultimate goal is the fabrication of practical, economical, and working devices. This goal demands that the material not only be compatible with blood, but also be able to perform distinct mechanical and physico-chemical functions or be useful for the isolation of implantable prostheses from body fluids.