Polymers for Biomedical Applications

The aging of the "baby boomers" population and the focus on health issues continues to drive the demand for better medical devices and health care solutions. Significant developments over the last two decades particularly in the field of biomaterials have revolutionized the biomaterials-based health care industry. Polymers represent the largest and most promising class of biomaterials based on their wide spread use in various medical applications. A large number of polymeric biomaterials have been developed and new developments continue to appear in journals and patent literatures. Although several excellent books and reviews cover specific areas in this interdisciplinary field; not many books strive to cover a comprehensive overview to the wide applications of polymers in the medical industry. Also, due to the significant growth of research and new technological advancements in biomaterials, this creates a need for updated and revised books within few years. This book covers some of the recent research developments in the field of polymeric biomaterials and their biomedical applications with a particular emphasis on work presented in the symposium entitled "Polymers for Biomedical Applications". The Book starts with a review of the synthesis of new and improved biomaterials and continues with a survey of the various tools and characterization techniques that are being used to characterize the polymeric biomaterials. Later, specific applications are discussed; such as applications of polymers for controlled release of bioactive agents, reactive coatings for biological applications, scaffolds for tissue engineering and as a base material for development of medical devices and biosensors.