Silicones
In Critical Care: Six Life-Sustaining Applications For
Medical-Grade Silicone
Medical-grade silicone is making a
difference to patient comfort and safety across every area of
healthcare, including these six lifesaving and life-sustaining
applications.
In 2021, there were more than 34 million
hospital admissions in the United States alone. As the world’s
population grows and healthcare systems develop, the global
market for medical equipment is reaching astronomical scales.
In the US, the cardiovascular device market took $26,140
million of revenue in 2023, according to GlobalData.
Orthopedics claimed the second largest market share at $23,367
million, closely followed by Hospital Supplies, General
Surgery and Wound Care Management.
When it comes to designing new devices,
there is an important place for medical-grade silicone
materials across virtually all med tech fields, including
prosthetics, dental, patient monitoring, and wound care
management. There are many reasons why silicone has become a
staple for medical device companies, including its ease of
processing and cost-effectiveness. Most importantly, silicones
are making a difference to the comfort and safety of
dangerously ill patients.
In the acute care setting, medical-grade
liquid silicone rubbers (LSRs) and high-consistency rubbers (HCRs)
play an important role in breathing masks, catheters, and
intravenous infusion therapy. LSRs, HCRs, and silicone
adhesives frequently feature in small implantable devices.
Meanwhile, many of the tools and apparatus used to
successfully complete surgical procedures have some silicone
component within them. Take a scalpel, for instance, which can
have a silicone handle to allow for better grip during
ultra-precise procedures as well as a lubricious silicone oil
coating on the cutting surface to enable a cleaner incision.
Medical-grade silicone is everywhere in healthcare, from
simple valves to complex neurostimulation devices. Here, we
consider six important applications for silicone in lifesaving
and lifesustaining devices.
Intravenous infusions
Intravenous infusion systems administer
blood, fluids, nutrients, and medicines directly into the
patient’s bloodstream. Needleless valves, primarily consisting
of a silicone component within a plastic housing, have emerged
as a key component of safe infusion systems, reducing the risk
of catheter site infection for patients and accidental
needlestick injury for caregivers.
In the treatment of cancer, implanted ports
with silicone septums are widely used due to their ability to
deliver medication into the bloodstream and withstand multiple
needle insertions without allowing fluids to leach through.
This can assist with some of the effects chemotherapy has on
the body by protecting the digestive system and reducing the
number of needlesticks necessary for blood draws, infusions
and injections, as well as improving patient comfort over the
course of treatment.
Medical tubing
Medical tubing refers to catheters, IV
lines, and other tubes used in irrigation, draining, and
respiratory applications. Silicone can be a great option due
to its biocompatibility, chemical inertness, nontoxicity,
flexibility, translucency, and lack of odour or taste.
Silicones are easily sterilisable via multiple methods, making
them a safe option for a hospital setting. Many catheters and
other types of tubing are single-use devices. In these
applications, silicone’s ease of processing by extrusion or
injection allows for efficient, cost-effective manufacturing
at scale.
Breathing masks
Non-invasive ventilation is a mainstay of
intensive care units, helping to deliver oxygen to the lungs
through positive pressure in incidences of acute and chronic
respiratory failure. In addition to biocompatibility,
translucency, and lack of odour or taste, breathing masks
produced from silicone elastomers offer high levels of comfort
to the patient, reducing the occurrence of blisters, marks and
scars.
With advances in 3D printing, these devices
have become a top candidate for additive manufacturing, since
this could enable larger-scale production of personalised
breathing masks that provide the best fit possible, further
improving comfort while also reducing air leaks.
Stents
Stents are small but mighty devices,
designed to keep pathways such as blood vessels and airways
open. Stents can be fabricated entirely from silicone, a
design choice associated with easy repositioning/removal and
lower body pain intensity. More commonly, stents are
structured from metal or mesh fabrics and coated by LSR or HCR
to provide corrosion resistance, improved strain resistance,
and clot prevention.
Some recent stent designs offer
drug-eluting properties, enabling them to release an
antiproliferative or immunosuppressive drug over time via a
polymeric matrix. Certain types of silicones can support these
applications, enabling controlled and targeted drug release to
promote blood flow, relieve chest pain, and help prevent
plaque build-up.
Pacemakers
Pacemakers are small electrical devices
implanted in the chest to help correct dangerously abnormal
heart rhythms or chronic slow heartbeats. As these complex
devices are made from multiple components, silicone adhesives
can be integral in sealing them together.
In addition, silicone has been widely used
to insulate pacemaker leads and to fabricate outer cases for
electrical housing. Because the material is biocompatible, it
works both ways to keep internal components safe from
corrosive bodily fluids while keeping patients safe from
contact with potentially toxic materials.
Pharmaceuticals
Silicones have been recognised as a
material of choice by pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical
manufacturers. Particularly as the adoption of single-use
systems continues to grow, silicones are helping to protect
pharmaceuticals from contamination while making production
more efficient. In singleuse systems, LSRs and HCRs are
frequently used in peristaltic pump tubing, transfer tubing,
high-pressure reinforced hoses, gaskets, and seals.
Silicone materials are also key components
of drug delivery systems. Siliconisation is a key process in
parenteral packaging, meanwhile drug-eluting silicones have
emerged as a key material for implantable drug delivery
devices, which help to achieve a more effective, targeted
dose.
December 7, 2023
https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/sponsored/siliconesin-critical-care-six-life-sustaining-applications-for-medicalgrade-silicone
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