Les polymères synthétiques résorbables: Caractéristiques et applications pour les prothèses artérielles

Impregnation of textile vascular prosthetics has been suggested in order to replace the precoagulation of the prosthetic at the time of implantation, as this technique is mandatory to make the prosthetic leak-proof. Currently these matrix are biologic and may potentially be responsible for infectious transmission. This infectious risk and the results of previous healing studies of impregnated prosthetics led us to take into account a further use of an essentially synthetic matrix. The main advantage of these matrix consisted in providing a reproducible degration rate without submitting the patients to the not well known risk of infectious transmission due to their chemical synthesis. These matrices may provide a well-controlled variation of porosity of the prostheses after implantation. We conducted a literature review of the main synthetic resorbable polymers used as biomaterials which may also be potentially used for the impregnation of textile vascular prosthetics. We observed the main chemical characteristics and the absorption rate of these polymers.