0090-6964/98 $10.50 1 .00 Copyright © 1998 Biomedical Engineering Society

Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 26, pp. 337–337, 1998 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.

Book Review Human Biomaterials Applications, edited by D. L. Wise, D. J. Trantolo, D. E. Altobelli, M. J. Yaszemski, and J. D. Grasser. Totowa, NJ: The Humana Press, 1996, ISBN 0-89603337-6.

debris. This is one of the few examples of the acknowledgment that devices do not always perform well in their recipients, and indeed can fail in the sense of excessive degradation or breakage. The more common reluctance to discuss failure is illustrated in a later section on angioplasty guidewires in which the safety wire is said to ‘‘prevent separation’’ of components. It is acknowledged that other wires are ‘‘fragile and deform easily.’’ However, there is no mention of the fact that these wires on occasion break off in people’s hearts, presenting a serious challenge in their retrieval. The final two chapters of the section are listed as ‘‘Bone Cement, parts 1 and 2.’’ Written by the same five authors, this appears to be an unnecessary division of subject matter. The title of the second part includes restoration in people with physical disabilities, but there is essentially no mention of disabilities in the chapter. In addition, entire sections of the discussion are repeated verbatim between the two parts. Part III includes an interesting discussion of plastics used in external prostheses and orthoses. This is a subject rarely included in discussions of biomaterials because of the limited biocompability issues associated with devices contacting intact skin. In this regard there is no mention of biocompatibility in the chapter. Organizational and editorial control weaknesses are also reflected in the two chapters that discuss vascular graft healing, with some repetition of material between them. Despite the possibly picky criticisms noted above, there is much of value in this volume for readers seeking the specific information of particular chapters. The work is much weaker as a broad overview of biomaterials applications because of the highly selective and relatively narrow subject matter. In this regard it would be difficult to use as a textbook or even for general reading on one’s own if the desire was for mainstream rather than specialty information in the field of biomaterials.

This volume is a collection of nineteen chapters by different authors on various aspects of biomaterial science and applications. The chapters are categorized into four parts: Biomaterials and Biocompatibility Studies, Case Studies of Orthopedic Biomaterials, Biomedical Applications of Biomaterials, and Functional Biomaterials. Since the chapters are more-or-less standalone works, the above subdivision is somewhat arbitrary and occasionally inconsistent, but this has no impact on the readability of the individual contributions. As is often the case with such collections, the volume suffers from large variations in scope and style, with little in the way of a unifying theme or approach other than the sections are all generally about biomaterials. The variability is illustrated by the differences between chapters one and two. The first chapter on biomaterials and their biocompatabilities is 14 pages long with 23 references. Only two of these references are from the 1990s ~’91 and ’92!, with six from before 1980. While the historical perspective is always an important one, these references and the material they support do not reflect a substantial effort to write a modern accounting of the issues. A later chapter on biomaterials in vascular surgery again reflects a reliance on older research literature rather than an up-to-date discussion. An example of this is a reference to a 1986 work saying that the authors have developed a graft of certain properties. One wonders what became of this effort in the ensuing ten years. The second chapter on bacterial adhesion to biomaterial surfaces is 28 pages with a staggering 332 references. Is adhesion twice as important as biocompatibility, and is there more than 14 times as much literature on the subject? Or, as is more likely, did the chapter authors take vastly different approaches to their subject matter with limited guidance from the editors? The six chapters on orthopedic biomaterials address special applications more than standard practice. Topics include bone-inducing factors, biopolymer alloys, and calcium hydroxyapatite. There is also a very interesting chapter on the biological role of particulate

William A. Hyman Biomedical Engineering Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77840 [email protected]

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