PVC – A Material of
Choice for Life-Saving Devices
Reproduction of Article by Mr Ole
Grøndahl Hansen Project Manager, PVCMed Alliance.

First applied to medical applications
during WWII, PVC is the most widely used plastic in
healthcare, accounting for approximately 25% of all
medicalplastic compounds. Here’s why.
Few polymers used in healthcare have
stoked as much controversy as polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
For many years, this plastic and its additives have been
scrutinized by authorities, criticized by NGOs, and been
subjected to substitution campaigns.
Paradoxically, PVC is praised by R&D
departments as well as the wider medical device
community for its unique technical properties. Forecasts
show that PVC will remain the material of choice for a
range of existing life-saving medical applications such
as tubing and containers, especially blood bags, and
will play a key role in tomorrow’s innovative healthcare
solutions. The use of PVC in healthcare is expected to
see healthy growth in the coming years.
In this article, I will outline new
developments with respect to the environment and human
health that hopefully will serve to build a new paradigm
for the polymer, where concerns are replaced by a
positive vision for the future of PVC. The focal points
are PVC’s unique recyclability, which is essential to
the
implementation of a circular economy in healthcare, and
the introduction of new plasticizers. Here, the European
PVC industry’s decades-long commitment under the
VinylPlus program is key to sustainable development. But
let’s begin with a brief explanation of why PVC, and
plastics in general, were introduced in healthcare in
the first place.
When plastics revolutionized
healthcare
PVC is the most widely used plastic for
medical devices, with a share of about 25%. The other
main medical polymers are polypropylene, polyethylene,
polystyrene, and ABS.

PVC began replacing glass, metal,
ceramics, and rubber in medical devices during WWII.
PVC was introduced in medical
applications during World War II to replace reusable
medical devices made from glass, metal, ceramics, and
rubber, which required cleaning and sterilization
between uses. PVC and plastics enabled manufacturing a
wider range of safe, low-cost, single-use medical
devices that greatly reduced cross-contamination between
patients and improved treatment. |