The use of bioabsorbable polymers in the medical device industry dates back to the early 1970s with the introduction of bioabsorbable sutures for use in general surgery. In the decades since, bioabsorbable polymers have grown in popularity, especially for applications seeking to provide an alternative to metal stents and other implantable components. A key advantage of bioabsorbable polymers over other materials is their innate ability to be absorbed naturally by the body, eliminating the need for permanent device implantation or surgical removal later.<\/p>\n
Today, most of the commercially available bioabsorbable devices are composed of synthetic polyesters, primarily homopolymers and copolymers of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), poly(glycolide) (PGA), and poly(\u03b5-caprolactone) (PCL). These three polymers offer a baseline for the design of copolymers, terpolymers, and blends with properties tailored to meet the demands of specific medical applications. Critical attributes of a bioabsorbable device, such as the absorption profile and the mechanical properties (e.g., strength, rigidity, and toughness), can be customized by taking advantage of the varying degradation rates (due to differing levels of susceptibility to hydrolysis), thermal transitions (e.g., glass transitions), and crystallinity that are available within this special class of polymers.<\/p>\n
The absorption profile is defined by the mechanical integrity loss profile and the mass loss profile. In most applications, especially those of a load-bearing nature, the mechanical integrity loss profile should coincide with the healing and restoration profile of the tissues being treated. Through the combination of polymer design and polymer processing, the absorption profile can be controlled, allowing for highly tailored treatment options.<\/p>\n
Zeus works with a number of bioabsorbable homopolymers, including poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), poly(glycolide) (PGA), poly(\u03b5-caprolactone) (PCL), and polydioxanone (PDO), as well as copolymers such as poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA), poly(L-lactide-co-caprolactone) (PLC), poly(L-lactide-co-DL-lactide) (PLDLLA), and poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PDLGA). Our ability to select and blend the above materials, coupled with our processing capabilities, allow us to produce high precision tubular geometries, monofilaments, special profiles, ribbons, and microporous non-woven fabrics for use in a number of clinical applications across multiple disciplines, including coronary and peripheral vascular intervention, structural heart intervention, drug delivery, brachytherapy, gastroenterology, and otolaryngology (ENT).<\/p>\n
Note:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0The information in the Zeus catalog, website, and other sources presents and discusses generally accepted properties for non-pigmented virgin polymer resins from which Zeus fabricates its line of extruded products. Actual properties may change due to processing method, resin grade, product dimensions, and other variables. It is the end user\u2019s responsibility to fully evaluate and test the fitness of each product for their specific application.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The use of bioabsorbable polymers in the medical device industry dates back to the early 1970s with the introduction of bioabsorbable sutures for use in general surgery. In the decades since, bioabsorbable polymers have grown in popularity, especially for applications seeking to provide an alternative to metal stents and other implantable components. A key advantage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"parent":424,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-specifications.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7006","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7006\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}