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Clinical Chemistry 18: 869-894, 1972;
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Clinical Chemistry, Vol 18, 869-894, Copyright © 1972 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Organic Polymer Biocompatibility and Toxicology

Fritz Bischoff 1

1 Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Research Institute, P. O. Box 689, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93102.

Adverse effects of organic polymers used for plasma extenders, tissue adhesives, bone cements, contraceptive devices, prostheses, artificial organs, food packaging, cooking, and laboratory ware are appraised. Parenteral polymer disintegration involves hydrolytic, redox, and degradation reactions. Accumulative toxicity of plasticizers, antioxidants, and monomers liberated from plastic containers warrants investigation. Main problems with heart-assist devices are clotting and blood destruction; with plasma extenders, thesaurismotic reactions; with acrylic bone glues, transitory hypotension; with artificial kidneys, loss of metabolic essentials; with silicone heart valves, uptake of lipids; with silicone chin implants, bone resorption; and with liquid silicone mammary amplification, lumpy breasts and mastitis. A polymer fume fever is linked with pyrolysis of polytetrafluoroethylene. Human solid-state carcinogenesis constitutes a calculated risk with polymer implants. In rodents, all solid polymers tested produced cancer; chemical carcinogenesis was induced by a polyvinyl chloride copolymer, vinyl chloride, polycaprolactam, liquid silicone, and some brands of polytetrafluoroethylene.


Key Words: prosthetic devices, artificial organs • clotting • polymerization • silicones • in vivo polymer degradation • carcinogenesis • evidence from experiments on animals • self-curing resins • contraceptive and erectile devices • acrylic polymers • safety testing procedures • tissue reactions • drug release from silicone depots • tumor induction • food contamination • use of polymers in clinical chemistry • polyvinylpyrrolidone • methylmethacrylate • Teflon • artificial kidney • heart valves




The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:


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 J Biomater ApplHome page
N. Kossovsky and C. J. Freiman
Immunology of Silicone Breast Implants
J Biomater Appl, January 1, 1994; 8(3): 237 - 246.
[Abstract] [PDF]

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 J Biomater ApplHome page
K. G. Brand
Do Implanted Medical Devices Cause Cancer?
J Biomater Appl, January 1, 1994; 8(4): 325 - 343.
[PDF]


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Copyright © 1972 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.