T. Kawabata, Qualified Medical device Information's Inc., Saitama-City, Saitama, Japan
Polymers have been applied to a variety of medical devices and greatly enhansed QOL of patients through the use of less invasive medical procedures. Stronger demands for less invasive procedures have made the medical devices finer and finer. However, for a designing of such a fine catheter with excellent handling properties, polymer by itself is not enough as a material. We need excellent materials other than polymers such as SMA to achieve better required properties. Importance of SMA has thus been greatly recognized. SMA is a very effective material to make fine devices and will be used in more applications because of its super elasticity and preferred level of Young's modulus which is smaller than SUS but larger than conventional polymers. This paper deals with a bird's-eye view of SMA applications in Japan for medical devices, especially the one used in less invasive devices. It also reports examples of SMA applications, advantage of its uses, required mechanical and biological properties, problems arising from its uses, and a request of improvements to manufacturer of SMA from the stand point of a user.
Summary: Polymers have been applied to a variety of medical devices and greatly enhansed QOL of patients through the use of less invasive medical procedures. Stronger demands for less invasive procedures have made the medical devices finer and finer. However, for a designing of such a fine catheter with excellent handling properties, polymer by itself is not enough as a material. We need excellent materials other than polymers such as SMA to achieve better required properties. Importance of SMA has thus been greatly recognized. SMA is a very effective material to make fine devices and will be used in more applications because of its super elasticity and preferred level of Young's modulus which is smaller than SUS but larger than conventional polymers.
This paper deals with a bird's-eye view of SMA applications in Japan for medical devices, especially the one used in less invasive devices. It also reports examples of SMA applications, advantage of its uses, required mechanical and biological properties, problems arising from its uses, and a request of improvements to manufacturer of SMA from the stand point of a user.
