Plasma Surface Modification of Biomaterials Applied for Cardiovascular Devices

Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death among human diseases. To save the patient's life, a series of artificial devices have been developed in recent decades. Although good progress has been made, some critical problems still exist, such as poor anticoagulation properties leading to a higher rate of complications. Improving the blood compatibility is a very important goal in biomedical materials research. Among the surface modification techniques for improving blood compatibility of biomaterials, plasma processes have attracted attention because of their high effectiveness and low cost. In this paper we describe some applications of plasma processes developed in our laboratory such as plasma grafting, films synthesis, and plasma based ion implantation, to modify biomaterials and cardiovascular devices. Titanium oxide films were synthesized by different processes such as DC metal plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition and by magnetron sputtering. Diamond-like carbon films were fabricated by pulsed metal arc plasma and by hydrocarbon gas plasma immersion ion implantation. Acetylene ion implantation into polyurethane and plasma grafting of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with different molecular weight on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films was also performed. Heparin and albumin grafting was carried out on polymers by means of plasma pretreatment. Significant improvement was found in the blood compatibility of cardiovascular devices and components such as artificial heart valves' sew, cage and leaflets, and vascular stents. We also discuss further development of the research.