Life-Enhancing Plastics: Plastics and Other Materials in Medical Applications (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781860944628)

This book enables readers without specialist knowledge to understand the ways in which materials can be used to enhance people's lives. The range is vast -- from simple contact uses, through artificial limbs, to permanently implanted devices.To appreciate the medical applications of materials, it is necessary to understand why they are used. Therefore, a discussion on the nature and behaviour of materials is preceded by a survey of the evolution of modern surgical techniques. The effect of "foreign" materials on the body's immune system is then considered, followed by a study of specific uses of materials, including extra-corporeal machines and implanted devices.The last chapter deals with new and highly sophisticated techniques -- including minimal access surgery, robotics, nanotechnology, natural polymers, and the growth of "artificial" organs -- and concludes with a look at the future.

Author: W. Anthony Holmes-Walker
ISBN-10: 1860944620
ISBN-13: 9781860944628
Publisher: Imperial College Press
Language: English
Published: 08/11/2004
Pages: 232
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 9.22h x 6.06w x 0.70d