Medical polymer materials refer to those polymer materials with excellent properties that can be used to diagnose, treat, repair or replace tissues and organs in the body or improve their functions. It is an emerging edge subject that involves materials, biology , medicine, physics, chemistry, manufacturing and clinical medicine and many other disciplines.

Since ancient times, human beings have been constantly fighting against diseases and disabilities in order to survive and develop themselves and society. As early as 3500 BC, Egyptians used cotton fibers and horsehair to suture wounds. Mexican Indians used wood chips to repair injured skulls. False teeth, noses, and ears were found in Chinese and Egyptian tombs from 500 BC. In the 20th century, polymer science developed rapidly, and new synthetic polymer materials continued to emerge, providing more choices for the medical field. After plexiglass (PMMA) was invented in 1936, it was quickly used to make dentures and fillings, and is still used today. In 1943, celluloid membranes began to be used for hemodialysis. In 1949, the United States first published a prospective paper on medical polymers. In the article, the clinical application of using PMMA as human skull, joints and femurs and using polyamide fiber as surgical sutures was introduced for the first time. In the 1950s, silicone polymers were used in the medical field, greatly expanding the scope of applications of artificial organs, including organ replacement and plastic surgery. Since then, a large number of artificial organs were tried for clinical use in the 1950s. Such as artificial urethra (1950), artificial blood vessel (1951), artificial esophagus (1951), artificial heart valve (1952), artificial heart and lung (1953), artificial joint (1954), artificial liver (1958) wait. In the 1960s, with the development of various disciplines, medical polymer materials began to enter a new period of development. As a marginal subject, it integrated polymer chemistry, polymer physics, biochemistry, synthetic materials technology, pathology, Knowledge in various aspects such as pharmacology, anatomy, and clinical medicine also involves many engineering issues, such as the design and manufacturing of various medical devices. The mutual integration and mutual penetration of the above-mentioned disciplines have led to an increasingly rich variety of medical polymer materials, more and more perfect properties, and more complete functions.
As the most populous country in the world, my country has huge market potential for biomaterials. According to a report from the civil affairs department: There are more than 15 million patients with limb-freedom in my country, of which about 8 million are disabled; there are millions of patients with Kashin-Beck disease caused by rheumatoid; there are more than 10 million patients with coronary heart disease; There are about 5 million blind people with cataracts; 300 million to 400 million people with tooth defects and missing teeth; 120 million hepatitis virus carriers; 20 million cardiovascular disease patients; 20 million women of childbearing age who need family planning; as the population ages, There are 70 million osteoporosis patients in China (the elderly population over 60 years old has reached 139 million, accounting for about 10.69% of the national population); bone defects and bone defects caused by diseases, traffic accidents and sports trauma every year The number of missing patients is nearly 10 million; the number of people who need craniofacial and chest cosmetic plastic surgery is tens of millions. This does not include the huge number of patients with various soft tissue, blood and organ diseases.
In developed countries such as the United States, there are no comprehensive demand data reports like those released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China. Only some incomplete data in the United States are available. For example, millions of people suffer from the loss of various tissues and organs every year. Functional dysfunction requires 8 million operations to repair, costing more than 40 billion US dollars annually. The treatment costs for organ failure and tissue defects account for half of the entire medical expenses.
With the improvement of people’s living standards and the pursuit of quality of life, my country’s demand for medical polymer materials will continue to increase.

Application of medical polymer materials in medical devices
Medical polymer materials are intended to be used directly on the human body or are closely related to human health. Therefore, there are strict requirements for materials that enter the clinical use stage. Otherwise, polymer materials used to treat diseases and save lives will cause adverse consequences.
(1) Requirements for the performance of polymer materials themselves: 1. Resistance to biological aging. For long-term implanted materials, the biological stability is better: ② Physical and mechanical stability. For different uses, the material's strength, elasticity, size, stability, fatigue resistance, and wear resistance should be appropriate during the use period; ③ easy to process and shape: ④) materials are easy to obtain and the price is appropriate; ⑤ easy to disinfect and sterilize.
(2) Requirements for the human body effects of medical polymer materials: ① non-toxic, that is, chemically inert; ② no pyrogen reaction; ③ non-acne; ④ not cause allergic reactions or interfere with the body’s immune mechanism, ⑤ not damage adjacent tissues and cause Calcification deposition on the surface of materials; ⑥ For materials in contact with blood, it is required to have good blood compatibility and non-coagulation.