| Popis: |
The importance of understanding mechanisms of blood–material interactions is emphasized by the increasingly widespread use of cardiovascular devices; hence, this field has been the subject of intense inquiry as described in several excellent reviews [1–4]. Unfortunately, it is still not possible to simply rank or classify materials with respect to their suitability for particular blood-contacting applications. Nor is it possible to predict in any general way, based on the properties of devices and of their blood-contacting surfaces, the behavior of blood in contact with materials or the propensity of devices to produce clinically adverse events. Despite many attempts to correlate biologic responses to physicochemical property measurements, our success in understanding blood–material interactions, and the clinical application of many blood-contacting devices, has been largely empirical. It is not appropriate to discuss in detail this large and controversial literature, which has been reviewed elsewhere [1, 2]. Rather, this section will focus on the available experimental data in humans, or results which may likely be extrapolated to humans from relevant animal studies, that may guide in the development of new designs for blood-contacting devices. Cardiovascular device applications in humans have also been the subject of an excellent review [5]. |
