Synthetic Biodegradable Polymers for Medical and Clinical Applications

• Published in: Biomedical Applications of Polymeric Materials and Composites pp. 361 - 382
• Main Authors: Francis, Raju, Joy, Nidhin, Sivadas, Anjaly
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated 2016; Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA
• Subjects: biomedical applications; clinical applications; drug delivery; metabolic pathways; polyesters; synthetic biodegradable polymers; tissue engineering
• ISBN: 9783527338368; 3527338365
• DOI: 10.1002/9783527690916.ch12

In modern medicine, polymeric biomaterials have a specific role because they are broken down after their served function, and therefore they are preferred in clinical applications. This chapter discusses the major classes of biodegradable polymers and their potential in various biomedical applications. It focuses on the potential applications, biocompatibility, and biodegradation of the polymers to explore the use of polymers or precursors with similar characteristics for developing new polymer compositions in the biomedical field. Among the families of synthetic polymers, the polyesters have been attractive because of their ease of degradation by hydrolysis of ester linkage and the ability of the degraded products to be resorbed through the metabolic pathways. Polyesters have also been considered for the development of tissue engineering applications. Recently, biopolymers have been increasingly found in applications such as food, pharmaceutical, and‐consumer goods packaging, since they are either totally or partially from renewable resources and have the potential to be biodegradable and/or compostable.