Publication Date:
2002-04-27
Description:
The introduction of biodegradable implant materials as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures in medicine has substantially improved health care within the past few decades. This report describes a group of degradable thermoplastic polymers that are able to change their shape after an increase in temperature. Their shape-memory capability enables bulky implants to be placed in the body through small incisions or to perform complex mechanical deformations automatically. A smart degradable suture was created to illustrate the potential of these shape-memory thermoplastics in biomedical applications.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lendlein, Andreas -- Langer, Robert -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2002 May 31;296(5573):1673-6. Epub 2002 Apr 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉mnemoScience GmbH, Pauwelsstrabetae 19, D-52074 Aachen, Germany. a.lendlein@mnemoscience.de〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11976407" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Biocompatible Materials/chemical synthesis/chemistry
;
Chemistry, Physical
;
Dioxanes/chemistry
;
Elasticity
;
Elastomers
;
Isocyanates/chemistry
;
Mechanics
;
Physicochemical Phenomena
;
Polyesters/chemistry
;
*Polymers/chemical synthesis/chemistry
;
*Prostheses and Implants
;
Rats
;
Stress, Mechanical
;
*Sutures
;
Temperature
;
Thermodynamics
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
