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Bio-incompatibility and Dialysis
Bio-~compatib~~and Di~y~i~ Editors: M.E. De Broe, M. Foret, M.D. Kazatchkine
and 6. Laurent
Volume 62 of Goat~butioas to Nephology. Series editors: GM Karget AG, Base& 1988. pp 150
Editors: A. Pizroferrato,
P.G. Marchetti,
Volume 7 of Advances in Biomate~ais,
Gerfyna and S. Giovanaetti.
A. Ravaglioli and A.J.C. lee
Elseviet, ~ste~am,
1887, pp 808. USS170.75
A theme in biomaterials is the use of device retrieval to assess biocompatibility. The premise is that implants and devices are intended for human use and that explanted devices represent a storehouse of information regarding human-material interactions that is largely unexplored. Both of these books reflect a variation on this theme, which make them relatively unique. They are concerned, more or less, with clinical aspects of the use of biomaterials. Whatever we might think about clinical research, it is impo~ant to recognize that the clinic is the end user of our materials. We need the clinic to identify problems, to adapt our knowledge to practical use and above all to keep us honest and focussed on the right problems and proper solutions. These books, although intended for widely different audiences, have these roles in mind. As such they go beyond the normal limitations of collections of papers presented at particular symposia. The books are not already obsolete, nor is the uneveness in manuscript quality a deterrent to purchase, or at least reading, of these books. The first one, Bio-incompatibility and’ Dialysis, is a series of 15 papers presented at a French symposium held in April 1987.The awkward titleconveys well thetheme of this symposium that focussed on the chronic and subacute reactions associated with dialysis and dialysers. Hence the book is divided into three sections. The first contains a simple (but interesting, especially for students) description of materials used in haemodialysers (and not just membranes), a paper on the complications associated with ethylene oxide and formaldehyde and a paper on microbial contamination of dialysate solutions. The second section deals with the pathophysiology of @-2-microglobin amyloidos/s, skin lesions and the connection with carpal tunnel syndrome. The third section focuses on humoral and cellular reactions and contains the expected discussions of complement activation, leucocyte interactions and interleukin-1 . The book appears to be intended primarily for nephrologists for whom biocompatibility may be an unfamiliar term, yet many of the papers contain adequate amounts of review material so that non-clinicians can easily understand what the problems are. It is also interesting to note that the book treates the dialyser as one component of a system and does not ignore the other components (e.g., dialysate) which could influence biocompatibility. The second book, Biomaterials and Clinical Applica0 1988
Butterworth Et Co (PubIshers) Ltd. 0 142-967
tions, covers a much broader territory, being the proceedings of the Sixth European Conference on Biomaterials held in Bologna in September 1986. It is intended for biomaterial scientists so it tends to be more familiar. Nevertheless there is a much greater clinical flavour to the proceedings than this reader normally sees and that is welcome. There are a total of 124 papers, divided (in some cases arbitrarily) into seven sections, so that there is something for everybody here. The first section consists of five keynote lectures covering in broad overview biomaterial associated infection (Pizzoferrato), reconstructive surgery (Leake), cementless fixation (Hench) and materials more generally (Bonfield, Giusti). The second section describes the use and problems of biomaterials for hard tissue applications (40 papers) covering both ceramics and metals, orthopaedic and dental implants, clinical, animal and biomechanical studies. The third section contains 29 papers on biomaterials for soft tissue and cardiovascular devices with a considerable number of papers related to the use of biomaterials in opthamology and reconstructive survery, in addition to the expected ones on wound dressings and vasculargra~s. Section four deals with structural, physicochemicai and biocompatibility characterization of biomaterials (24 papers). It contains a wide variety of topics including novel polymer synthesis, materials science studies on polymers and metals and protein adsorption and biocompatibility studies, and a little bit of everything else. Section five (16 papers) contains papers on drug delivery systems, bioactive polymers, biomaterial associated infection and inflammato~ reactions. The sixth section (6 papers) is entitled ‘Experimental applications of prosthetic materials’ but the difference between these papers and those in other sections is not clear. Finally the book finishes with four papers discussing aspects related to standardization of tests for membranes, hard tissues, soft tissues and structural analysis. With such a wide variety of papers, it is not surprising that not all papers meet the standards of refereed journals. Nevertheless, as indicated in the books preface, the diversity highlights the ‘multifaceted and interdisciplinary nature of the science of biomaterials’ and as such it is a worthy contribution to the biomaterials literature.
M.V. Sefton
Z/88/050467-02$03.00 Biomateriais
1988, Vol9 September
467
and 6. Laurent
Volume 62 of Goat~butioas to Nephology. Series editors: GM Karget AG, Base& 1988. pp 150
Editors: A. Pizroferrato,
P.G. Marchetti,
Volume 7 of Advances in Biomate~ais,
Gerfyna and S. Giovanaetti.
A. Ravaglioli and A.J.C. lee
Elseviet, ~ste~am,
1887, pp 808. USS170.75
A theme in biomaterials is the use of device retrieval to assess biocompatibility. The premise is that implants and devices are intended for human use and that explanted devices represent a storehouse of information regarding human-material interactions that is largely unexplored. Both of these books reflect a variation on this theme, which make them relatively unique. They are concerned, more or less, with clinical aspects of the use of biomaterials. Whatever we might think about clinical research, it is impo~ant to recognize that the clinic is the end user of our materials. We need the clinic to identify problems, to adapt our knowledge to practical use and above all to keep us honest and focussed on the right problems and proper solutions. These books, although intended for widely different audiences, have these roles in mind. As such they go beyond the normal limitations of collections of papers presented at particular symposia. The books are not already obsolete, nor is the uneveness in manuscript quality a deterrent to purchase, or at least reading, of these books. The first one, Bio-incompatibility and’ Dialysis, is a series of 15 papers presented at a French symposium held in April 1987.The awkward titleconveys well thetheme of this symposium that focussed on the chronic and subacute reactions associated with dialysis and dialysers. Hence the book is divided into three sections. The first contains a simple (but interesting, especially for students) description of materials used in haemodialysers (and not just membranes), a paper on the complications associated with ethylene oxide and formaldehyde and a paper on microbial contamination of dialysate solutions. The second section deals with the pathophysiology of @-2-microglobin amyloidos/s, skin lesions and the connection with carpal tunnel syndrome. The third section focuses on humoral and cellular reactions and contains the expected discussions of complement activation, leucocyte interactions and interleukin-1 . The book appears to be intended primarily for nephrologists for whom biocompatibility may be an unfamiliar term, yet many of the papers contain adequate amounts of review material so that non-clinicians can easily understand what the problems are. It is also interesting to note that the book treates the dialyser as one component of a system and does not ignore the other components (e.g., dialysate) which could influence biocompatibility. The second book, Biomaterials and Clinical Applica0 1988
Butterworth Et Co (PubIshers) Ltd. 0 142-967
tions, covers a much broader territory, being the proceedings of the Sixth European Conference on Biomaterials held in Bologna in September 1986. It is intended for biomaterial scientists so it tends to be more familiar. Nevertheless there is a much greater clinical flavour to the proceedings than this reader normally sees and that is welcome. There are a total of 124 papers, divided (in some cases arbitrarily) into seven sections, so that there is something for everybody here. The first section consists of five keynote lectures covering in broad overview biomaterial associated infection (Pizzoferrato), reconstructive surgery (Leake), cementless fixation (Hench) and materials more generally (Bonfield, Giusti). The second section describes the use and problems of biomaterials for hard tissue applications (40 papers) covering both ceramics and metals, orthopaedic and dental implants, clinical, animal and biomechanical studies. The third section contains 29 papers on biomaterials for soft tissue and cardiovascular devices with a considerable number of papers related to the use of biomaterials in opthamology and reconstructive survery, in addition to the expected ones on wound dressings and vasculargra~s. Section four deals with structural, physicochemicai and biocompatibility characterization of biomaterials (24 papers). It contains a wide variety of topics including novel polymer synthesis, materials science studies on polymers and metals and protein adsorption and biocompatibility studies, and a little bit of everything else. Section five (16 papers) contains papers on drug delivery systems, bioactive polymers, biomaterial associated infection and inflammato~ reactions. The sixth section (6 papers) is entitled ‘Experimental applications of prosthetic materials’ but the difference between these papers and those in other sections is not clear. Finally the book finishes with four papers discussing aspects related to standardization of tests for membranes, hard tissues, soft tissues and structural analysis. With such a wide variety of papers, it is not surprising that not all papers meet the standards of refereed journals. Nevertheless, as indicated in the books preface, the diversity highlights the ‘multifaceted and interdisciplinary nature of the science of biomaterials’ and as such it is a worthy contribution to the biomaterials literature.
M.V. Sefton
Z/88/050467-02$03.00 Biomateriais
1988, Vol9 September
467