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Originally published in Science Express on 25 April 2002
Science 31 May 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5573, pp. 1673 - 1676
DOI: 10.1126/science.1066102
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Reports

Biodegradable, Elastic Shape-Memory Polymers for Potential Biomedical Applications

Andreas Lendlein,1* Robert Langer2

The introduction of biodegradable implant materials as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures in medicine has substantially improved health care within the past few decades. This report describes a group of degradable thermoplastic polymers that 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.

1 mnemoScience GmbH, Pauwelsstrabeta e 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

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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