POLYMER MATERIALS FOR THE PREVENTION OF CATHETER-RELATED INFECTIONS

Catheter-related infections are major problems in medicine because of severe consequences for the patient, prolongation of hospitalization, and increasing therapy costs. Beside progress in hygienic measures, de velopment of catheters with antiinfective properties seems to be a pro mising approach to the prevention of such infections. Two approaches f or infection-resistant catheter materials have been developed: materia ls with antiadhesive properties and materials with antimicrobial prope rties. Antiadhesive polymers shall prevent the adhesion of microorgani sms to the medical device. However, up to now there has been no materi al which would lead to a complete inhibition of adherence (''zero adhe rence''). Materials with antimicrobial properties contain antimicrobia l substances which are incorporated into the biomaterial or bound to t he polymer surface. These devices seem to be effective in the preventi on of ''early onset infections''. In this paper, an overview of the de velopment and efficiency of antiadhesive or antimicrobial polymers is given.