Conclusions

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the present status of bioabsorbable biomaterials and devices used in surgery, which include surgical sealants, antiadhesion barriers, fixation devices, and sutures. These devices are generally indispensable for surgery to heal injuries and prevent tissue adhesions, but the products that are currently available, such as fibrin glue, have unsolved problems. They include low adhesion strength, difficult handling, tedious preparation, and poor balance between bioabsorption rate and mechanical strength maintenance. For instance, bioabsorbable bone fixation devices need improvement in bioabsorption kinetics. Several kinds of growth factors are commercially available to enhance wound healing, but their carriers are not always effective for their sustained release, and, in addition, their cost is very high. Recently, several techniques have been developed to concentrate patient’s own platelets which contain large amounts of growth factors. This last chapter seems to suggest that a new era is just starting with regard to more effective and efficient devices for surgical operation.