Table Of ContentSERIES ON BIOMATERIALS AND BIOENGINEERING
Series Editors: A Batchelor (Monash Univ. Sunway Campus Malaysia Sdn Bhd)
J R Batchelor (UK)
Margam Chandrasekaran (GINTIC Institute of Manufacturing
Technology, Singapore)
Vol. 1: An Introduction to Biocomposites
by Seeram Ramakrishna (National University of Singapore, Singapore),
Zheng-Ming Huang (Tongji University, China),
Ganesh V Kumar (National University of Singapore, Singapore),
Andrew W Batchelor (Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia)
Vol. 2: Life-Enhancing Plastics: Plastics and Other Materials in Medical Applications
by Anthony Holmes-Walker (BioInteractions Ltd, UK)
Published by
Imperial College Press
57 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9HE
Distributed by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: Suite 202, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
SERVICE CHARACTERISTICS OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS AND IMPLANTS
Series on Biomaterials and Bioengineering — Vol. 3
Copyright © 2004 by Imperial College Press
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
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ISBN 1-86094-475-2
Printed in Singapore.
Dedicated to
Mrs. Valli Boobal Batchelor
Shri Comal Neelakantan Margam and Shrimathi Rajeswari Margam
v
Preface
This book grew out of the realization during experimental research about
how little is known concerning the service conditions for many implants.
Basic information such as the temperature rise on the surface of an
orthopaedic implant during vigorous exercise is not known to any great
accuracy. However, many fascinating and valuable experimental and
theoretical investigations have provided at least a partial picture of
processes occurring around an implanted biomaterial.
With the increasing range of prostheses and implants available to patients
and the rapidly growing level of interest in tissue engineering, it became
evident that an introductory text on the service characteristics of
biomaterials would be helpful to students and general readers.
Information that is distributed around many journals and conferences
could be collated and summarized for the benefit of new students to the
subject. Due to space limitations, the cited references provide only a
selection of the newer publications, if any worker in this field feels
neglected, the authors offer their apologies.
This is an interdisciplinary subject involving specialists in materials,
medical science as well as engineering. It is not often appreciated how
different the operating conditions are inside the body from what is
typically expected of engineering components. An early example is the
synovial joint; because healthy synovial joints enjoy low friction, it was
expected that artificial synovial implants would also achieve low friction.
vii
viii Preface
Some workers expressed surprise when synovial fluid failed to lubricate
artificial materials effectively. Later investigations revealed the
significance of the proteins in synovial fluid, where a hitherto
unrecognized mechanism of lubrication prevailed.
This book aims to provide a general introduction into the main
characteristics of any biomaterial after its implantation in the human
body. A careful study of the contents of this book will help the reader to
attempt to answer such vital questions as: Will the biomaterial
disintegrate prematurely? Will the biomaterial initiate a toxic or
inflammatory response in the body? How long can the service life of an
implant material be extended?
The basic concepts of Materials Degradation, i.e. corrosion, wear,
oxidative corrosion and other mechanisms are described in Materials
Degradation and its Control by Surface Engineering (Imperial College
Press), this book assumes some knowledge of the basic concepts in
Materials Degradation. However, as is explained in this book, the body
imposes its own unique requirements of materials that would not
normally be encountered elsewhere. The long-term service requirements
of biomaterials are also much more demanding than is the case for
machinery.
The book is intended for final year undergraduates, post-graduates who
are pursuing a course in biomaterials or biomedical engineering.
Professional engineers or scientists involved in such problems as e.g., the
design of hip prostheses, may also find the book useful.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Monash
University Malaysia and the A-Star Institute of Manufacturing
Technology, Singapore. The authors would also like to record their
appreciation of the following persons for their kind provision of
drawings and photographs in this book: Dr Tom Joyce of the University
of Durham (Great Britain) for photographs of the finger prosthesis and
its test apparatus (Figures A2.1, A2.2 and A2.3, Appendix 2), Dr Stephen
Hsu of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States
of America for colour drawings of arthritic synovial joints (Figure 1.1)
and orthopaedic implants for the hip and knee (Figure 1.2) and for
photographs of hip and knee implants (Figures 4.3A), Dr Wolfgang
Kerkhoffs of the Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering,
University of Technology Aachen, Germany for pictures of worn heart
valves, heart and liver pumps. The picture of the hip implant tester was
kindly provided by the BMF Biomechanische Forschungs-Gesellschaft
m.b.H Rechte Wienzeile 5/2 A 1040 Vienna, Austria.
The efforts of Dr. Tom Joyce (Chapter 4), Dr Neo Tee Khin, external
lecturer of National University of Singapore, (Chapter 6) to review the
book are also acknowledged with appreciation by the authors. The
reviews of Chapters 1,2 and 3 by Prof. J.R. Batchelor, Imperial College
of Science, Technology and Medicine are gratefully appreciated.
Reviews of Dr. Anders Eric Jarffors, Senior Scientist, Singapore Institute
of Manufacturing Technology for Chapters 7-9 and Dr. Anil Kishen,
ix
x Acknowledgements
Asst. Professor, NUS for chapters 10-12 are also acknowledged with
thanks. In Chapter 5, the reviews by Dr Wolfgang Kerkhoffs,
Dr Takehisa Matsuda (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Graduate
School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan) and Dr Naren
Vyavahare, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Clemson University,
South Carolina, USA are acknowledged with appreciation. The helpful
comments of Prof. Nicholas Spencer, The Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology, are also acknowledged.
The authors also wish to acknowledge the help rendered by Mrs. Valli
Boobal Batchelor and Mrs. Lakshmi Chandrasekaran for editing the
manuscript. The authors also acknowledge with thanks the
encouragement and support of their family members during the writing
of this book.
