The medical and diagnostic sector is heavily regulated, with medical devices, pharmaceuticals and even pharmaceutical packaging having to meet strict specifications to ensure high performance and minimal risk for patients and practitioners. Therefore, the use of high-quality materials is necessary, and Everflon™ fluoropolymers are often the choice for demanding applications, as they combine properties that alternatives do not have.
A non-exhaustive list of medical applications of Everflon™ fluoropolymers is below:
◼ In sealing components (e.g., seals, gaskets, O-rings) in medical and diagnostic devices, to protect the components and reagents in the device from contamination and to prevent leakage of potentially biohazardous fluids to the environment.
◼ In tubing and other equipment (e.g., tools and trays, seals, pipes, hoses, connectors) used in manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, where high temperatures and aggressive chemicals are expected. This equipment must neither leach nor contaminate the pharmaceuticals or intermediates.
◼ As primary insulation and jacketing of cables and wiring used in medical and analytical / diagnostic equipment, fluoropolymers allow the devices to meet specifications set in international standards (e.g., for FDA approval). Those cables can be found in:
- Endoscopy equipment, which uses miniature cables with a diameter of 1.25μm
- Imaging diagnostic devices, such as echography, radiography (X-ray sensors)
- Other medical analyses (e.g., blood, tissue, urine)
- Artificial hearts
- Robots used in surgery
- Implantable hearing aids
◼ Everflon™ are used in surgically implantable medical devices, catheters, guide wires, filters and pumps to reduce the risk of failure, replacements, cross-infections, and clogging of medical equipment. Surgically implantable devices, such as vascular grafts and heart patches, stents, occluders, hernia (e.g., peritoneal) meshes, endoprosthetics, ligament replacement, tubes for dialysis and catheters. Use of Everflon™ fluoropolymers ensures the longevity of the implants and reduces the risk or frequency of the implant having to be replaced.
◼ Everflon™ ETFE and PFA film and laminates are used as inert surfaces on caps and lids of medical vials and syringes.
◼ Everflon™ Fluoropolymers are also used in medical garments, because of their non-stick properties.
◼ High-efficiency air filters are used in ventilation and in maintaining clean industrial production environments, which are essential in drug production.
◼ Biochips or analysis chips use amorphous Everflon™ fluoropolymers in a waveguide set up for analysis, commonly used in point of care diagnostics. This exploits the fact that amorphous fluoropolymer has low autofluorescence and has a refractive index close to that of water.
◼ Other uses of Everflon™ fluoropolymers mentioned in the survey are in cryogenic bags for blood and organs, in breathing air devices, medical ventilators and oxygen supply systems.
◼ A Everflon™ fluoropolymer coating is a critical component of Metered Dose Inhalers (MDI) and similar applications, where compatibility with a medicine and non-stick properties are required.
◼ In pharmaceutical applications, PVDF filtration membranes are used in sterilising grade and virus removal filters, ensuring the sterility of the final (bio)pharmaceutical product. PVDF is used in highly demanding applications, where no other efficient solutions exist.
