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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 7 January 2010, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program. The report reviews biomaterials used in medicine, including silicones, Teflon, biodegradable polymers, hydrogels, titanium, ceramics and tissue constructs, and applications such as stents, joints, contact lenses, drug delivery and dialysis. It concludes that most innovation lies in new ways to apply existing materials.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 1/7/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD is a broad survey of biomaterials, including metals, polymers, ceramics, glasses, and composites designed to interact with living tissue, and argues that their value depends mainly on biocompatibility, reliability, and careful matching of material properties to specific medical uses. The report reviews major application areas including biosensors, implants, cardiovascular devices, contact lenses, drug delivery systems, tissue constructs, titanium devices, and dialysis membranes, emphasizing that no single biomaterial works best in every setting. Its overall conclusion is that biomaterials are already foundational to a large medical-device industry and save or improve millions of lives, but that progress tends to be slow because safety testing is stringent; as a result, most advances come from improved ways of applying established materials such as silicone, Teflon, biodegradable polymers, ceramics, and titanium in new devices and clinical settings rather than from radically new substances.
UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOR OPFICIJllt l:ISE 8PUs:lf Biodegradable polymers have been used with computer-based rapid prototyping machines to form porous shapes where t issue cells can ingrow. The result after many weeks of submersion in tissue cu lture is that the polymer slowly degrades, leaving the cultured tissue in the shape of the predefined scaffold. Although this approach cannot grow complex organs, like a heart or kidney, that have many different tissues, it can be used to create simple structures of cell products-for example, of cartilage excreted by fibroblast cells. These structures do not create their own networks of blood vessels, a problem whose solution lies in the future. Figure 20 shows CSLA (Crosslinkable Star Lactide-co-Glycolide), a biodegradable polymer deposited into a honeycomb structure by a process not unlike ink-jet printing. The ink-jet pen is supplied with a hot liquid form of the CSLA polymer, which then hardens when it cools and is exposed to the air. Using a computer to rewrite successive layers on top of one another, a three-dimensional structure is built. Figure 20. Biodegradable Material CSLG Deposited in a Honeycomb Structure to Allow Infiltration by Living Cells While in a Submerged Cell Culture CARDIOVASCULAR BIOMATERIALS Biomaterials are often made into medical devices rather than being sold in raw form. Among the largest and most demanding of all biomaterial applications are devices that come into direct contact with blood. In general, various derivatives of Teflon and silicone are the most widely used for blood contact, while metals and ceramics are more often used in tissues. Cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) applications are one of the most important categories of implant biomaterials. Biomaterials for cardiovascular applications are usually prepared using polymers, because polymers are ava il able in a wide variety of compositions with adequate physical and mechanical properties and can easil y be manufactured into products with the desired shape. In addition, some metals and ceramics are used in the blood stream . Figure 21 lists some of the common cardiovascular devices and how long they are in contact with blood. UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOR OFFICIO~ 11&5 QNla:lf 15
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