Biocompatibility research on extracorporeal components

Abstract

Apart from functional, technical, and safety aspects, the biocompatibility of extracorporeal circuit components has become a very important demand. Oxygenators, reservoirs, and arterial filters as well as other components like tubing and connectors consist of many different polymers. Each must be chosen regarding functional properties and the suitability for the manufacturing processes. These materials represent of course foreign surfaces for the blood, unavoidably leading to blood reactions with possibly serious systemic consequences. To minimize these unwanted biological effects, polymers are constantly developed and modified in order to meet finally technical and medical demands with the best biocompatibility at the same time. Therefore these biomaterials must become investigated in every respect: (1): technically, e.g., process engineering properties, function, and durability, (2) medically, e. g., the toxicity, side-effects, and last but not least the biocompatibility. The latter is a big challenge due to the large number of polymers and additionally because the original form of biomaterials is usually thermally transformed resulting in individual changes in their biocompatibility properties. Therefore many models must be applied, considering various important factors and conditions resulting from the specific situations of blood/foreign surface contact. Depending on the scientific questions static or dynamic experimental set-ups can be used. Either the basic polymer, e. g., as a flat sheet, or the final product is investigated by measurement of a lot of parameters to characterize the biocompatibility performance.