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Published Online April 25, 2002
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1066102

Reports

Submitted on September 10, 2001
Accepted on April 11, 2002

Biodegradable, Elastic Shape Memory Polymers for Potential Biomedical Applications

Andreas Lendlein 1* Robert Langer 2

1 mnemoScience GmbH, Pauwelsstraße 19, D-52074 Aachen, and Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, Germany.
2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.lendlein{at}mnemoscience.de.

The introduction of biodegradable implant materials as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures in medicine has significantly improved health care within the last few decades. This report describes a group of degradable, thermoplastic polymers, which are able to change their shape after an increase in temperature. Their shape memory capability enables bulky implants to be placed in the body through small incisions or to perform complex mechanical deformations automatically. A smart, degradable suture was created to illustrate the potential of these shape memory thermoplastics in biomedical applications.


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