Polymers have been employed for the development of medical devices and implants as some of them are biocompatible. Synthetic procedures and extraction techniques have allowed the obtention of different polymers, classified in this chapter as synthetic and natural polymers. In the process of synthesis of the polymer, its properties can be modulated to obtain more flexible or thermostable materials, nontoxic or transparent, depending on the desired properties of the final product. A wide range of polymers have been used for the manufacturing of catheters, valves, tubes, and other medical devices; therefore, in this chapter, there is a brief description of some of them, their chemical structure and properties, and finally, their application in medicine is shown.
Keywords: Biocompatibility, Biomedical, Catheter, Drug delivery, Flexibility, Free-radical polymerization, Glass temperature, Hemocompatibility, Implants, Melting temperature, Polymerization, Structure, Tissue engineering.
