The application of silicone rubber in the medical field mainly includes the following aspects:
1. Long-term retention in the human body as a substitute for organs or tissues
The main products include hydrocephalus drainage devices, artificial lungs, retinal implants, artificial dura mater, artificial throat, artificial fingers, palm joints, artificial eardrums, dental impressions and denture tissue surface soft pads, artificial tendons, artificial heart membrane accessories, etc.
2. Short-term retention in the body, to play a role in fluid replacement, rescue, drainage injection, anti-adhesion or defoaming
The main products include intravenous cannula, urinary catheter, arteriovenous fistula, peritoneal dialysis tube, contact glasses, blood transfusion tube, pressure relief tube, chest drainage tube, gastroscope cannula, otitis media ventilation tube, catheter and nasal cannula, etc.
Medical silicone rubber catheters are used in many medical fields. It is the fastest growing and most widely used product among silicone rubber products. There are various pump tubes for use outside the body, connecting tubes for medical devices, infusion catheters, and various cannulas, catheters, and drainage tubes for use inside the body. According to clinical needs, medical silicone rubber catheters with X-ray development marking lines have been developed. The development trend of medical silicone tubes for the human body is miniaturization, thin walls, multiple cavities, and one tube with multiple functions. (For example, it can be used for sampling, irrigation, infusion, etc.).
3. As a key component of medical machinery
Such as: artificial heart-lung machine blood transfusion pump tube, membrane artificial heart-lung machine, fetal aspirator and artificial blood circulation device, etc.
4. Applied in cosmetic and repair surgery
For example, silicone rubber is used to repair facial defects, forehead, nose, chin, jaw, neck, etc., to treat defects in the external ear, for cosmetic surgery of the skull and chest, and to repair internal organs, etc., as well as artificial breasts that have caused great controversy.
5. Application in drug sustained-release system
Drug controlled-release (sustained-release) system is increasingly valued by scientists and welcomed by users in various countries due to its advantages in high utilization rate, low drug consumption, few side effects, long-term effect, reversibility, etc. The drug controlled-release (sustained-release) system has been successfully applied in the field of human and family planning. A variety of drug controlled-release preparations have been developed in the fields of human fertility regulation, pregnancy control, and family planning. In the past five years, new long-acting contraceptive implants, drug-containing intrauterine release systems, vaginal contraceptive rings, and transdermal patches have been launched as new products.
Since 1957. silicone rubber materials have been used as packaging materials for controlled-release drugs. Silicone rubber has good permeability and permeability, and drugs can be effectively controlled and released and slowly diffused through silicone rubber. There are two main ways to use silicone rubber to control drug release: encapsulation type, that is, taking the drug as the core and encapsulating it with a silicone rubber film; microparticle dispersion type, that is, the drug is dispersed in the silicone rubber matrix as microparticles. The drug release rate decreases with the increase of release time, but its manufacturing is relatively simple, just mix the drug and silicone rubber and form it. Among these two drug delivery methods, only the encapsulation type can release the drug at a stable and appropriate rate, achieve long-term effect, and improve the efficacy.
6. Other applications
In addition to the above applications, medical silicone rubber can also be used in the field of biomedical engineering. Its products mainly include medical devices (such as the intraperitoneal chemotherapy drug delivery device, which is a fully silicone implantable intraperitoneal chemotherapy catheter system that is beneficial to the treatment of patients with ovarian malignant tumors), medical electrodes, and biological implant sensors (biosensors are one of the main topics of current bioelectronics research and development. It not only shows a bright future in basic research, clinical medicine, food fermentation, environmental protection, etc., but also has become possible in the field of in vivo application. Among them, two types of biosensors, biomedical electrodes and implant sensors, are typical examples of in vivo applications) outer packaging materials.
