Method of making absorbable polymer blends of polylactides, polycaprolactone and polydioxanone
AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsKevin Cooper, Steven C. Arnold, Angelo Scopelianos
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Abstract
Absorbable binary and tertiary blends of homopolymers and copolymers of poly(lactide), poly(glycolide), poly(.epsilon.-caprolactone), and poly(p-dioxanone) are described. The blends when used to manufacture medical devices exhibit shape retention, dimensional stability and palpability without loss of the strength, stiffness and BSR found for poly(lactide) homopolyers and/or poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymers.
Claims2
A method of conforming the shape of a bioabsorbable medical device to a body structure comprising the steps of:
- heating a bioabsorbable medical device sufficiently to effectively allow the medical device to be formed;
- conforming the heated medical device to a shape of a body structure;
- cooling the medical device sufficiently so that the device effectively retains the shape,
- wherein the medical device comprises a bioabsorbable polymer blend which comprises:
- a major phase comprising about 90.1 weight percent to about 99.9 weight percent of a polymer selected from the group consisting of poly(lactide) homopolymers and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymers, and combinations thereof;
- and,
- a minor phase comprising about 0.1 weight percent to about 9.9 weight percent of a mixture of poly(.epsilon.-caprolactone) and poly(p-dioxanone) homopolymers, wherein said blend has a weight fraction of the major phase and minor phase equal to 100.0 weight percent.
A method of conforming the shape of a bioabsorbable medical device to a body structure comprising the steps of:
- heating a bioabsorbable medical device sufficiently to effectively allow the medical device to be formed;
- conforming the heated medical device to a shape of a body structure;
- cooling the medical device sufficiently so that the device effectively retains the shape,
- wherein the medical device comprises a bioabsorbable polymer blend which comprises:
- a major phase comprising about 90.1 weight percent to about 99.9 weight percent of a polymer selected from the group consisting of poly(lactide) homopolymers and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymers, and combinations thereof;
- and,
- a minor phase comprising about 0.1 weight percent to about 9.9 weight percent of a copolymer of poly(.epsilon.-caprolactone-co-p-dioxanone), wherein said blend has a weight fraction of the major phase and minor phase equal to 100.0 weight percent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.