Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
For completeness, some of the natural polymers have also
been included here. Structural formulas of commonly
investigated synthetic degradable polymers are provided
in
Fig. 3.2.7-1
. It is an interesting observation that a large
proportion of the currently investigated,
synthetic,
de-
gradable polymers are polyesters. It remains to be seen
whether some of the alternative backbone structures
such as polyanhydrides, polyphosphazenes, poly-
phosphonates, polyamides, or polycarbonates will be able
to challenge the predominant position of the polyesters
in the future.
PDS is a poly(ether ester) made by a ring-opening
polymerization of
p
-dioxanone monomer. PDS has
gained increasing interest in the medical field and phar-
maceutical field due to its degradation to low-toxicity
monomers
in vivo.
PDS has a lower modulus than PLA or
PGA. It became the first degradable polymer to be used
to make a monofilament suture. PDS has also been
Fig. 3.2.7-1 Chemical structures of widely investigated degradable polymers.
