The human body is a harsh environment for implantable materials, what with all the tissue and bodily fluids in which they must reside. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing materials to weather those severe conditions without losing functionality, stability or biocompatibility. These so-called "shape-memory polymers" can temporarily compress or expand in size, ultimately assuming their permanent shape with the application of light, heat or a chemical trigger.
The characteristics of polymers make them good candidates for biomedical applications, says Georgia Tech professor Ken Gall. That's because they more closely resemble soft biological tissue than does metal, and they can be designed to gradually dissolve in the body.
Gall's research group already has developed a shape-memory polymer stent that can be compressed and threaded through the body into a blocked artery just like a conventional stent. The body's heat then triggers the polymer to expand into its permanent shape.
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