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K. Ehrmann, K. Seidler, P. Potzmann, C. Dworak, T. Koch, H. Bergmeister, C. Grasl, H. Schima, R. Liska, B. Podesser, S. Baudis:
"Thermopastic Polyurethanes and their Application as Electrospun Biodegradable Soft Tissue Medical Prosthesis";
Talk: VSS 2018 - Vienna Young Scientists Symposium, Wien; 2018-06-07 - 2018-06-08; in: "VSS 2018", Book-of-Abstracts.com, (2018), ISBN: 978-3-9504017-8-3; 110 - 111.

Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death worldwide. Several surgical interventions are established as treatment methods with a common denominator: the necessity of medical prostheses with a wide range of demanding properties. Prostheses for soft tissues such as vascular grafts or heart valves must be biocompatible, flexible and robust to persevere blood pressure, and appropriately porous. Recent studies have shown that degradation of the artificial material enables and promotes native tissue growth. Therefore, degradability has also become a desirable attribute. Additionally, economic factors such as cost and shelf life are essential for the realization of medical prostheses. Finally, it is also well known that the surface structure of medical prostheses plays a critical role in successful implantation. Segmented thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) are a polymer class which meets many of the above mentioned criteria. The polyaddition of diols and diisocyanates via the establishment of urethane bonds yields linear, thermoplastic polymers. Due to the urethane groups' ability to form hydrogen bonds, a segmented secondary structure can be achieved in which long, linear segments (poly(tetrahydrofuran) (pTHF) or poly(hexamethylenecarbonate) (pHMC) as soft blocks) are responsible for the material's elasticity, while the hydrogen-bonding urethane blocks from isocyanates
(hexamethylenediisocyanate (HMDI), 4,4' -methylenebis (cyclohexylisocyanate) (Hr2MDI), 1,3-bis(iso-cyanatomethyl) cyclohexane (BIMC), or isophoronediisocyanate
(IPDI)) and diol-chainextenders (CE: bishydroxyetþleneterephtalat (BHET), bishydroxypropanecarbonate (BHPC), or CEs from biogen substances as hard blocks) achieve mechanical stability' For the introduction of degradability of the material we aim to introduce cleavable bonds such as esters or carbonates, both in the soft and hard segments of the TPU polymer chains. Therefore, the design of cleavable chain extenders (CCE) is of special interest.

Thermopastic Polyurethanes, Electrospun Biodegradable Soft Tissue Medical Prosthesis