Journal «Angiology and Vascular Surgery» • 

2018 • VOLUME 24 • №1

Modern polyurethanes in cardiovascular surgery

Gostev A.A.1, Laktionov P.P.1,2, Karpenko A.A.1,2

1) National Medical Research Centre named after Academician E.N. Meshalkin under the RF Public Health Ministry,
2) Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine under the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

Currently, there is great clinical demand for synthetic tissue-engineered cardiovascular prostheses with good long-term patency. Polyurethanes belong to the class of polymers with excellent bio- and hemocompatibility. They are known to possess good mechanical properties, but are prone to processes of degradation in conditions of functioning in living organisms. Attempts at solving this problem have resulted in the development of various new subclasses of polyurethanes such as thermoplastic polyether polyurethanes, polyurethanes with a silicone segment, polycarbonate polyurethanes and nanocomposite polyurethanes. This was accompanied and followed by offering a series of new technologies of production of implantable medical devices such as vascular grafts, heart valves and others. In the presented review, we discuss biological and mechanical properties of modern subclasses of polyurethanes, as well as modern methods of manufacturing implantable medical devices made of polyurethanes, especially small-diameter vascular prostheses.

KEY WORDS: polyurethane vascular prostheses, electrospinning, biocompatibility, biostability.

P. 38

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