How Medical Implants are Saving Lives

Janifha Evangeline

Medical implants are finding applications in various areas which include cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurological, and dental ailments. While some of them are manufactured using metal, plastic, or ceramic materials, there are other implants made using skin, bone, and other body tissues. Medical implants market is anticipated to reach USD 147,464 million by 2027, according to reports by Allied Market Research.

Medical implants are most often the devices or tissues which are replaced either inside or on the surface of the body. While most of the implants are prosthetics, which are used to replace the missing part of the body, other implants provide medication, monitor the body functions, and offer support to both the organs as well as tissues.

Medical implants can either be replaced permanently or can also be removed once they are no longer needed or in use. For instance, stents or hip implants are permanent in all cases, however, chemo or chemotherapy ports or the screws that are implemented in repairing broken bones can be removed when they are not needed anymore.

Some of the risks associated with medical implants are the surgical risks that occur during the placement or removal of medical implants, implant failure, and infections since some of the patients have reactions to the materials used in the implants.

All surgical procedures possess risk and these usually include bruising at the surgical site, pain, swelling, and redness, hence, when an implant is either inserted or removed, a patient should be ready to experience any of these complications. Furthermore, infections are also very common as most of the infections originate from skin contamination during the surgery. If a patient gets an infection, he or she may need to have a drain inserted near the implant, and also take proper medication or in some cases have the implant removed as soon as possible.

In few other cases, as time goes by, the implants inserted inside the body may move from their place, break or even stop working properly and in such cases, the patient needs additional surgery to either replace or repair the implant.

Cerebral Spinal Fluid Shunt Systems for Hydrocephalus
A medical procedure followed in treating patients suffering from hydrocephalus is the placement of Cerebral Spinal Fluid Shunt Systems also known as CSF. This life-saving treatment is used to drain excess fluid from the brain. What the shunt system does is that drains excess fluid from the brain to another part of the body and the fluid get absorbed as part of the circulatory process.

The three main components that are part of the Cerebral Spinal Fluid Shunt Systems are inflow tube or catheter, a valve that regulates the fluid flow, and an outflow catheter,

which carries fluid to either the heart or the abdomen where the fluid can be absorbed.

There are two types of Cerebral Spinal Fluid Shunt valves which include fixed and adjustable valves. While fixed valves let the (Cerebral Spinal Fluid) CSF fluid drain when there is the pressure caused by CSF, exceeding a certain fixed threshold, the adjustable shunt valves let in changes the fluid amount that flows using the valve. In the adjustable shunt valves, there are two types which are magnetic externally adjustable and non-magnetic externally adjustable.

The first type which is the magnetic externally adjustable shunts have mechanical parts which can be moved non-invasively. To adjust the aforementioned valves, a magnetic tool is placed on the skin near the valve and it rotates manually, this is because the magnetic field of the programming tool passes through the skin in order to adjust the position of the valves, and this process of setting the valve in order to drain more or less fluid from the brain is at times known as programming, though there are no electronics involved in the process.

Furthermore, one great advantage of a magnetic externally adjustable shunt valve is that there is no need for additional surgical procedures. Whereas the non-magnetic externally adjustable valves do not use any external magnetic field for valve adjustments. While some of these possess self-adjusting flow regulating mechanisms, the other types can be adjusted using only limited or minimally invasive surgical procedures.

India-US Partnership: Opportunities for collaboration in Medical Devices
India’s medical device industry is estimated to reach USD 50 billion by 2025. India’s Ambassador in Washington Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said, asserting that the US-India partnership in the key sector could provide a robust supply chain for others.

Ambassador Sandhu, addressing a webinar, “India-US Partnership: Opportunities for collaboration in Medical Devices”, organized by Consul General of India in Houston Aseem Mahajan, said while the US stands as the largest medical device market in the world, India is among the largest within Asia.

“It is fast emerging as a destination for high-end diagnostic services and is a growing market for diagnostic kits, handheld equipment, stimulus equipment of operation rooms,” the Indian envoy said.

The main objective of the webinars was to mainly highlight the huge potential in both the countries and also to build fruitful and good partnerships in the medical devices industry. This includes a range of products such as dental equipment and supplies, patient aids that include pacemakers, hearing aids, etc.

India has recently put in place a production-linked incentive scheme for medical devices and it will provide a total financial incentive of USD 2 billion to select companies over five years. The US-India partnership in the medical devices sector for many years is to be seen as part of the larger bilateral healthcare partnership from essential medicines, vaccines from research development and distribution, he added.

While Houston is home to the largest medical center and leading medical research institutions that have linkages with India, a myriad of organizations and corporations in this region are engaged with Indian organizations in various modes such as sharing technologies, manufacturing, and partnering in supply chains. India is among the largest manufacturers of generic medicines globally and also possesses the largest United States Food and Drug Administration compliant pharmaceutical plants.

The future of Medical Implant market
The medical implant market growth is driven by various factors and one of the most important is technological advancements. Also, increasing disposable incomes, better medical facilities, increase in the number of accidents are the factors anticipated to bolster this market growth. Based on the region, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to be a significant shareholder in the market. Not just that, it also presents remunerative opportunities for the key players in this industry.