Transactions of the INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY Vol. 39 1980
Application of Bio-ceramics-Carbon Ceramics
for Heart Valve Prosthesis
B. V. S. SUBBA RAO
Pages : 45-51
DOI : 10.1080/0371750X.1980.10840721
Abstract
Carbon and carbon deposits have been found to be increasingly
useful for a wide variety of applications ranging from
rocket and missile hardware to medical prosthesis. Implants
and artificial organs made out of various ceramic materials
are being increasingly considered in surgery. Perhaps,
the most striking application is in the use of carbon for
heart valve prosthesis. Surgical replacement of defective
heart valves is at least well-nigh two decades old. Bioengineering
studies with respect to design, material and
compatibility with biological systems have made very
rapid strides ever since cardiac valve replacement was conceived
as a practical feasibility. Of various types of materials
studied for valve prosthesis, the pyrolite carbon is now
universally acclaimed as most suitable. The choice of
carbon for such seemingly contradictory applications originates
to the fact that it can be tailor-made to ones requirement
due to remarkable variation in its crystallinity. This
paper deals with the type of carbon required for medical
prosthesis, its preparation, properties, characterisation and
bio-compatibility investigations.
