Bioabsorbable polymers in medicine: an overview.

Today the domains of life-respecting, degradable therapeutic materials and devices are among the most attractive areas in polymer science. Increasing attention is being paid to polymeric compounds that can be bioresorbable, i.e., degradable and ideally excreted or bio-assimilated - suitable to treat human diseases or trauma that require therapeutic assistance for a limited period of time, namely the healing period. Basically, biopolymers are of interest because of their inherent biodegradability. However, other characteristics limit their applications in the human body. Artificial polymers, i.e., polymers of non-natural origin, can be degradable in vivo and thus serve in time-limited biomedical or pharmacological therapy. The potential of these degradable polymers is discussed with respect to bioresorbability, with a special attention to polymers of the poly (α-hydroxy acid) type.