Next, the researchers have to explore the coating's stability and resistance to acids and other extreme environments. Garbage in, value out In Europe meanwhile, a colony of bacteria have been hard at work designing new polymers for the medical industry. This group of chemicals could pave the way to better plastics for surgical implants, ones that are more compatible to the human body and less likely to become infected by disease-causing microbes. And it's the potential medical applications that scientists are most excited by. Surgical implants such as catheters are now used routinely in hospitals throughout the world.
Prosthetic heart valves and shunts to remove fluid from the brain are also common.
One of the biggest problems with the plastics used in these devices is that bacteria find it easy to grow on them. Although most surgical implants do not provoke massive rejection from the human body in the same way as an organ transplant does, they are not always readily accepted either. The body reacts to an implant as any foreign object and sets up a mild inflammatory response, causing the patient to feel unwell. Such a reaction may also limit the implant's function or lifespan. A failed implant can even mean loss of mobility, brain damage, interruption of vital treatments and sometimes death in the case of heart valves.