Surface treatment is essential to ensure the safety and performance of medical devices. It is a special process that modifies a device’s natural surface properties. These treatments can greatly improve adhesion, durability, biocompatibility, and more. These properties play a vital role in successful patient outcomes. As per a recent medical industry trends report, Hydrophilic surface treatments in particular have gained widespread use with various medical devices, implants, and surgical instruments that are inserted into the human body. In fact, they hold approximately 45% of total market revenue.
This article is meant to serve as an introduction to medical device surface treatments. We will discuss various surface treatment processes and explain their critical importance to medical devices. Now without any further ado, let’s get started.
What is surface treatment?
Surface treatment can be defined as the process that modifies the surface of a material. The goal is to enhance properties such as biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, adhesion, lubricity, and sterilization.
Surface treatment is one of the most critical processes in the medical device industry. This is because it helps to significantly increase the efficacy and safety of the medical devices.
The Importance of Surface Treatment in Medical Industry
Medical device manufacturers have advanced modern healthcare through the use of advanced surface modification techniques. These treatments help to improve the effectiveness and safety of medical devices. Almost every medical instrument, whether a complex implantable device or a sophisticated surgical tool, needs surface treatment to be effective and safe.
Benefits of Hydrophilic Surface Treatment for Medical Devices
One of the most commonly used treatments are those that make a surface hydrophilic (water-loving). Applying a hydrophilic surface treatment is a proven technique. This modification changes the device’s natural properties in order to obtain the numerous outcomes.
Some common modifications that treatments are used for include:
Enhanced Lubricity
Lubricity and low coefficient of friction are important properties of medical devices. Lubricity plays a critical role in promoting the smooth insertion and navigation of devices in the body. This makes the device both safer and more reliable during medical procedures. It also helps to reduce tissue trauma and increase patient outcomes. Lubricity is enhanced through plasma treatment and hydrophilic polymer coatings.
Improved Biocompatibility
Biocompatibility is the ability of medical devices to coexist with living tissues in the body. Surface modification techniques, such as biocompatible coatings are used to prevent adverse reactions. These reactions may lead to serious health complications when medical devices are in contact with tissues and bodily fluids. They reduce the risk of rejection and ensure that the body will not identify medical instruments as foreign objects that cause harm or toxicity.
Excellent Corrosion Resistance
The human body contains highly corrosive fluids, including blood, urine, and gastric juices. Corrosion can lead to mechanical failure or contamination of the surrounding tissues. Anodizing is the most popular surface treatment to create corrosion-resistant medical devices. This offers protection against harsh chemical environments.
Improved Adhesion
Proper adhesion plays a critical role in the case of medical devices such. One common example is surface treatments of implants. It ensures the proper functioning of such devices without causing any harm to surrounding tissues. For example, Hydromer® advanced hydrophilic surface modifications significantly improve tissue integration and promote quicker healing.
Improved Patient Comfort
Surface modifications can enhance the ability of medical devices to move smoothly within the body. This has a remarkable impact on patient outcomes. The treatments prevent tissue irritation and other complications that cause trauma and longer hospital stays.
Reduced Risk of Infection
Infections are the most common cause of longer hospital stays and increased healthcare costs. Hydromer® antimicrobial coatings prevent bacterial adhesion and colonization. Their main goal is to reduce infection rates in surgical tools such as catheters and guidewires. Learn more about how Antimicrobial Coatings can Reduce Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs).
Surface Treatment Types and Processes
Medical device manufacturers are continuously looking for ways to improve the performance and safety of their devices. Surface treatment is one way to help achieve these goals. Success heavily depends upon the underlying surface treatment used as well as the technique.
Below we discuss some common types of surface treatment types and techniques.
1. Coatings
Surface modification can be done by preparing and applying a coating to the medical device surface. Specialized coatings help medical devices meet strict safety and regulatory standards. The coating process includes the application of a thin layer of advanced medical coating across the entire substrate surface.
One benefit of surface treatment coatings are their versatility. They can be formulated to provide a range of functionalities. And they can be used to modify the surface of many different materials. For example, coatings can be used for metal surface treatment as well as to modify plastic surfaces. Some coatings can be used on multiple surfaces. This reduces the number of coatings and application steps needed to modify a single device.
Popular medical device coatings:
- Hydrophilic Coatings: Surface treatment coatings are applied on a wide range of medical devices. These devices include catheters and guidewires as well as implants and more. They make the external surface of the medical device “water-loving” and “slippery-when-wet”. In addition, they can be used to modify the surface to make it biocompatible, among other things. Hydromer® hydrophilic coatings, for instance, attract water molecules from their surroundings to become smooth and slippery (lubricious). These coatings are used to add useful properties, such as lubricity, biocompatibility, drug-eluting capabilities, thromboresistance, and more.
- Antimicrobial Coatings: Close contact between medical devices, patients, and healthcare workers is the main cause of healthcare-associated infections (HIAs). As per the CDC, 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection. Hydromer® Antimicrobial Coatings stop microbes from sticking to and growing on medical devices, significantly reducing HIAs.
According to a recent industry report, hydrophilic coatings are the most popular medical device coatings. They account for almost 45% of the current market share. On the other hand, antimicrobial coating holds over 30% of the market share. Some hydrophilic coatings, such as those offered by Hydromer, also serve as antimicrobial coatings.
2. Physical Surface Treatment Techniques
Another type of surface treatment are physical surface modifications. These include plasma treatment, sandblasting, laser-blasting, etc. They are mainly used to improve the surface adhesion, wettability, and biocompatibility of medical devices.
Common physical surface modification treatments include:
- Plasma Treatment of Surfaces: this treatment uses plasma (gas that is ionized by an electric field) to alter the surface properties of medical devices. Plasma may include a variety of gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and argon. It is a dry process, leaving no residues on the material surface.
- Sandblasting the Surface: This process is also known as abrasive blasting. It is where a medical device surface is subjected to high-speed abrasive particles that create a rougher surface with higher surface area. Abrasive particles may include glass beads, sand, or aluminum oxide. The same process is also used to clean and prepare medical device surfaces for further processing.
- Laser Surface Treatments: It is used for both creating specific surface textures and modification of surface properties. High-energy laser beams cause a chemical reaction that can alter the device’s surface properties.
3. Chemical Surface Treatment Techniques
Chemical agents can also be used to modify the properties of a medical device’s surface.
Acid etching is one of the most popular surface treatment methods. This uses chemical solutions to remove surface layers. It is mainly used in the case of metal implants made up of metals, such as titanium and stainless steel. The process aims to improve mechanical interlocking and integration of the implant with human tissue.
The Role of Cleanliness and Surface Preparation in Surface Treatments
It should be noted that proper cleanliness and surface preparation of a surface plays a critical role in the success of surface treatments. This important step ensures that the surface is free from any and all contaminants before treatment. Dirt, oil, or other impurities on a medical device’s surface will negatively affect the adhesion and functionality of the treatment.
It is important to avoid exposure to contaminants during manufacturing, delivery, handling, and more. Though tedious, this helps ensure medical devices deliver the desired performance and properties.
Hydromer® Advanced Medical Device Coatings
Hydromer, Inc. is a US-based medical device coatings manufacturer and supplier. With 40+ years of experience, we can help your company accomplish it’s product development goals. Our coatings can be custom formulated to meet the exact performance and safety requirements of your medical devices.
But what sets us apart from other coatings suppliers is the wide-ranging list of services we can offer your team. No matter what stage of the product development process you are in, we can help you meet your goals.
Here is a quick list of services that we offer:
- Research and Development (R&D) services
- Contract coating services
- Supply of Leading Edge Custom Coating Formulations Worldwide
- Specialized Analytical Testing
- Custom Machine Building
- Turn-key Operations
- Technology Transfer Services
- Technical consulting and support services
- Regulatory consulting and support services
Contact our team of experts today to learn more about our products and services.
