Degradable metallic biomaterials for cardiovascular applications

Abstract

The use of degradable materials for modern biomedical applications was introduced in the late 1980s. Nowadays, the study of degradable biomaterials has become one of the most interesting research topics for biomaterials. A high increase in publications in this research field has been recorded in Medline for the last decade. Degradable biomaterials are expected to support an undergoing healing process of diseased tissues and to progessively disappear thereafter. Cardiovascular, orthopaedic and paediatric are three promising fields of applications for this new class of biomaterials. In cardiovascular applications, the coronary artery stent is one of the interesting degradable implants. This tiny implant provides a temporary scaffolding function to open a narrowed arterial vessel untill the vessel remodels. Introduced in 2001, biodegradable stents raised interest among researchers, clicinicians and industrialists. Although there are not yet any available for clinical use, a few models are presently undergoing pre-clicical tests in humans. Improvements towards ideal degradable metallic biomaterials still need to be addressed. In this chapter, studies on degradable metallic biomaterials are reviewed. Properties of ideal degradable metallic biomaterials are elobarated and strategies to develop them are also proposed. Finally, their possible future direction is summarised.