Blood Interfacing Applications

Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system having cells distributed in plasma. Any implant coming in contact with blood has to be hemocompatible, in addition to being biocompatible, in order to serve as a successful implant. Hemocompatibility is defined as the property of a material that does not elicit thrombosis and blood coagulation, and loss or damage to platelets and other blood elements. Or briefly, a biomaterial should not initiate any adverse effects on blood constituents or functions. A broad series of tests are conducted in situ, in vitro, and in vivo before a material is tested on humans in the clinic for its hemocompatibility. The main adverse effects on blood are thrombosis (blood clotting), damage to blood cells (e.g., hemolysis of erythrocytes), and adherence to and decrease of blood elements such as platelets and immune responses initiated through various complement activation pathways.