Abstract: A ceramic implant comprising a sintered body of zirconia and a coating layer of a porous sintered body of a mixture comprising .alpha.-tricalcium phosphate and zirconia, or hydroxyapatite and zirconia formed on the surface of the sintered body of zirconia.

Abstract: A biocompatible material for treatment of tissular or organic defects is composed of a graft copolymer of alpha-cyanacrylate and polyacrylic acid having a molecular weight of 200,000 to 600,000, obtained by interaction of alpha-cyanacrylate with polyacrylic acid in the presence of a cross-linking agent, the weight percentage ratio of the aforesaid components being as follows:______________________________________ alpha-cyanacrylate 14 to 34 polyacrylic acid having a molecular weight of 200,000 to 600,000 15 to 43 cross-linking agent 71 to 23 ______________________________________ .

Abstract: A composite implant prosthesis comprising a core constructed from a plurality of carbon fibers, a first casing formed from a braided sheath of carbon fibers and a second casing enclosing the core and first casing to define an outer surface contour for the composite implant prosthesis. The method for constructing the composite implant prosthesis includes the steps of pultruding the core from a polymer impregnated tow, braiding the first casing to the pultruded core and applying the second casing thereto. The pultruding and braiding steps are performed in a continuous process while the second casing is applied to a discrete element formed from the core.

Abstract: The porous metal overlay for an implant surface is comprised of a plurality of layers of stacked metal grids. Each layer is provided with pores which are of a size which decrease in the direction of the implant surface steadily, that is, without enlargement in an intermediate layer. The progressively decreasing porous sizes provide for a steady ingrowth and nourishment of the ingrowing tissue.

Abstract: A method of stimulating chemotaxis toward a prosthetic device is disclosed, which method comprises incorporating a chemotactic peptide of the formulaB.sup.1 -X-(AGVPGLGVG).sub.n -(AGVPGFGVG).sub.m -Y-B.sup.2whereinA is a peptide-forming residue of L-alanine;P is a peptide-forming residue of L-proline;G is a peptide-forming residue of glycine;V is a peptide-forming residue of L-valine;F is a peptide-forming residue of L-phenylalanine;L is a peptide-forming residue of L-leucine;B.sup.1 is H or a biocompatible N-terminal group;B.sup.2 is OH, OB.sup.3 where B.sup.

Abstract: A method for retarding or preventing the calcification of a prosthesis implanted in a mammal by covalently coupling to the prosthesis before implantation an effective amount of an anticalcification agent in the form of an aliphatic carboxylic acid, or a derivative thereof, which contains from about 8 to about 30 carbon atoms and which may be straight-chain or branched-chain and saturated or unsaturated. Such acid is substituted by at least one amino, mercapto, carboxyl or hydroxyl group by which the covalent coupling takes place. For a natural tissue prosthesis, such coupling may be to an aldehyde group of gluteraldehyde in which the tissue is pre-soaked.

Abstract: Biomaterials useful for onthopedicanel dental applications is disclosed. These materials have a base portion of calcium carbonate and a surface layer of a synthetic phosphate such as hydroxyapatite. The base portion may be a calcium carbonate structure having three-dimensional interconnected porosity such as may be found in porous skeletal carbonate of marine life, e.g. coral porites skeletal aragonite, or it may be porous or non-porous granules of calcium carbonate.A method for making the biomaterials is also disclosed. The synthetic phosphate surface is made using a hydroconversion reaction with a soluble or solubilized phosphate such as ammonium dibasic phosphate ((NH4).sub.2 HPO4).

Abstract: A sheet material for skin contact medical treatment at least one part of which is a therapeutically effective part comprising germanium and ceramic which irradiates far infrared rays by heating, said germanium and ceramic being provided within a distance of 0 to 3 cm in said therapeutically effective part. A composition of therapeutically effective materials for skin contact medical treatment which comprises germanium powder and ceramic powder which irradiates far infrared rays by heating is also disclosed.

Abstract: A device for the sustained release of active substance comprises a wall defining a cavity for the reception of active substance, the wall being of impermeable material and having one or more ports therethrough. Sections of hydrogel material are within the cavity, the hydrogel, in use, being swollen to cover the ports in the cavity wall. Active ingredient is released from the container only through the hydrogel covering the ports. In this way sustained and controlled release of the active substance from the device is obtained.

Abstract: A surgical pressure plaster has a pressure pad of readily compressible, resilient material, preferably having a trapezoidal cross-section with its non-parallel sides equal. The pressure pad is attached lengthwise and centrally to the adhesive surface of a highly elastic adhesive tape. Two removable protective strips and overlie the tacky surface of the elastic tape in end regions thereof and are of material stiff enough for them to have been inherently curved or angled into sections at right angles to sections adhering to the elastic tape. The protective strip may extend over the top surface of the pad which needs to be kept sterile through further anglings thereof. Using one hand only, digital pressure is exerted on the pressure pad's sides causing rotation of the projecting strips away from the pad whose surface is pressed onto a venepuncture wound site. The strips are removed, the tape ends, each stretched, are then applied to the skin, and the pad now maintains pressure on the wound and prevents bleeding.

Abstract: An improved implant for the mid-facial or submalar region of a patient's face. The implant is relatively thin with a teardrop-shaped profile. It has a relatively broad head which is adapted to fit in the canine fossa of the maxillary bone, and a tapered, relatively narrow tail which extends laterally under the zygomatic eminence. The implant is anatomically correct to create the appearance of soft tissue restoration without distorting the normal facial bone structure. In addition, it softens prominent nasolabial folds, and provides a more youthful looking fullness to the cheeks by repositioning and augmenting soft tissue which has lost the underlying support of an atrophied fat pad of the cheeks.

Abstract: A prosthesis for replacing parts of arteries and other blood vessels preferably has an inner tube suitable for use as a vascular graft in combination with external longitudinal ribs and a surrounding wrap which provides radial and longitudinal strength and resistance to kinking. The ribs separate the wrap from the inner tube, providing spaces between the wrap and tube to allow the tube to expand and contact, thus promoting isocompliance of the prosthesis with natural blood vessels.

Abstract: The bone implant is made of a cobalt-based alloy and can be anchored to a bone through the accretion of tissue. The tissue friendly surface of the implant is provided by a coating and a structural element which is secured to the coating with each of the coating and structural element being made of titanium, tantalum or niobium or an alloy of one or more of these materials.

Abstract: Production of a chemically modified, crosslinkable, telopeptide-containing, naturally crosslinked, solubilized collagen from tissue obtained from a sole human donor, for implanting in the same donor, by chemically modifying the tissue, e.g. by acylation and/or esterification, to form an autoimplantable, crosslinkable, telopeptide-containing naturally crosslinked, collagen, product, as a completely solubilized collagen solution, optionally of high index of refraction for correcting sight, or as a partially solubilized collagen suspension; and use of the product for altering the condition of in situ tissue of the same human donor by autoimplantation, such as by crosslinking the product to form an implant device, by placing an effective amount of the product at the tissue site and crosslinking the product in situ, or by partially crosslinking the product and placing an effective amount thereof at the tissue site and optionally further crosslinking the product in situ.

Abstract: Ceramic composite comprising a porous ceramic body having directly fitted thereon a dense ceramic body, the composite is produced by a process which comprises the steps of: separately producing the porous ceramic body and the dense ceramic body, inserting a projecting portion of the dense body into a bore portion of the porous body, and simultaneously sintering both the dense and porous bodies at a sintering temperature. The ceramic composite has excellent properties such as heat resistance, resistance to thermal cycle, water resistance and in vivo compatibility, and therefore is particularly useful as an implant material such as an artificial tooth root, an artificial bone and a percutaneous device.

Abstract: Disclosed are tapes for medical use, prepared in a one-pass coating operation in which an extensible tape backing is treated simultaneously with LAB material and elastomer. The resultant tapes exhibit release characteristics and elasticity that enable them to be dispensed in the form of a linerless rolls or in pads without deformation or loss of adhesion.

Abstract: The distribution of short, fine, reinforcing fibers homogeneously throughout surgical bone cement is accomplished by adding the fibers in the form of bundles of several hundred fibers with the fibers bonded to each other with an adhesive binder that is soluble in the liquid monomer component of the bone cement. The fiber bundles are either premixed with the powdery polymer bead component of the bone cement followed by addition of the liquid monomer or the polymer and liquid are premixed into a viscous liquid and the fiber bundles are gradually added with stirring to the viscous liquid. In either case, as the adhesive binder dissolves in the liquid monomer the individual fibers are freed and continued stirring mixes the fibers homogeneously throughout the cement mass.

Abstract: A body for absorbing and retaining body fluid is provided containing a fluid repellent insert which substantially separates layers of absorbent material along the longitudinal sides of the absorbent layers so as to prevent leakage of body fluid along the longitudinal sides.

Abstract: An osteofiller is characterized by using columnar sintered hydroxy-apatite having at least one capillary tube passed therethrough in the vertical direction.

Abstract: Plastics, particularly a method of hydrophilic coating of plastics, for example, a contact lens, with a lubricating and visually acute mucopolysaccharide film which is immobilized upon the surface of the plastic for the lifetime of the plastic. A preferred method includes first coating the plastic with an aqueous solution of a mucopolysaccharide, drying by applying a water-miscible solvent, then crosslinking and permanently immobilizing the first coating upon the plastic by applying a solution of catalyzed organic solution aliphatic polyisocyanates.