Sterilization of Biomaterials

Sterilization is a necessary and an important part of the manufacture of any biomaterial because infection is the last thing a patient who has undergone an implant placement surgery needs. This would hamper the healing process, probably make the implant unsuccessful, and make the patient incapable of dealing with this additional health problem while the actual surgery might have been a very serious one such as a cardiovascular implantation. Sterilization is needed because the implants could be carrying harmful microorganisms due to the implant production environment being not sufficiently sterile, the operating theater may not be free of microorganism, or the surgical instruments could be contaminated. The solution to this problem is the selection of an appropriate sterilization method. The goal of sterilization is to reduce the amount of microorganisms found in the surgical environment and on the devices to a universally acceptable level. However, the methods used to achieve this could have a significant effect on the physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of a biomaterial, affecting its performance; therefore, care should be exercised in the selection of the correct method of sterilization.