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Advances in Coatings Technology for Medical Devices and Drug Delivery (Technical Insights)
Frost & Sullivan, July 2005
Over the years, the use of coatings for medical devices and drug delivery has gone though a paradigm shift
from being a rarity to being an absolute necessity. The latest generations of coatings have become
indispensable in augmenting the capabilities of medical devices and implants. Without these coatings, many
medical devices would never reach their true potential in the intended application. They impart a wide verity of
properties such as lubricity, biocompatibility, and antimicrobial action to device surfaces. In addition to the
above mentioned properties, coatings for medical devices are also being used extensively to carry out specific
local drug release and make medical implants more visible to imaging systems.
With the introduction of drug-eluting stents (DES), treatment of coronary artery disease has gone though a
radical change, which resulted in improved success rates of a minimally invasive surgery--an alternative to
open heart surgery known as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). DES, are basically mesh
tubes coated with a slow release drug that helps to prevent coronary restenosis (a condition resulting in
renarrowing of coronary artery after coronary angioplasty).
As medicine moves further along the spectrum from invasive to non-invasive, device manufacturers
increasingly demand slippery or lubricous coatings. Non-invasive procedures require slippery maneuverable
catheters that physicians can move easily through small blood vessels or delicate tissue. With lubricous
coatings on an increasing number of medical devices, surgeons can perform procedures that were impossible a
decade ago.
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