Method for repairing or replacing damaged tissue
A method for repairing or replacing damaged tissue, or for providing post-surgical augmentation, comprising administering a pliable biocompatible material and a physiologically acceptable suspending agent to a patient is disclosed. Copolymers of unsubstituted acrylate and substituted acrylate are disclosed as pliable biocompatible materials.
1. A method of preparing a composition for repairing or replacing tissue comprising admixing a finely ground copolymer of phenylethyl acrylate and phenylethyl methacrylate with a physiologically acceptable suspending agent to form an injectable, biocompatible material.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copolymer is a powder, a non-porous microbead, or a microsphere.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copolymer is in the form of particles each having a diameter selected from the group consisting of: about 10 μm to about 100 μm; about 0.01 μm to about 10 μm, and about 0.01 μm to about 5 μm.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent is resorbable.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent is selected from the group consisting of a buffered physiological solution, cross-linked sodium hyaluronate, a non cross-linked sodium hyaluronate, collagen, and any combination thereof.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the molar ratio between the phenylethyl acrylate and the phenylethyl methacrylate is selected from the group consisting of: between about 1:1000 and about 1:1; between about 1:10 and about 1:1; between about 1:1000 and about 1:10; about 1:1000; about 1:100; about 1:10; about 1:9; about 1:8; about 1:7; about 1:6; about 1:5; about 1:4; about 1:3; about 1:2; about 1:1; between about 10:1 and about 1:1; between about 1000:1 and about 10:1; about 100:1; about 10:1; about 9:1; about 8:1; about 7:1; about 6:1; about 5:1; about 4:1; about 3:1; about 2:1; about 1:2; about 3:2; about 5:2; about 1:3; about 2:3; about 4:3; about 5:3; about 1:4; about 3:4; about 5:4; about 1:5; about 2:5; about 3:5; about 4:5; about 2:1; about 2:3; about 2:5; about 3:1; about 3:2; about 3:4; about 3:5; about 4:1; about 4:3; about 4:5; about 5:1; about 5:2; about 5:3; and about 5:4.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said copolymer is cross-linked with 1.4 butanediol diacrylate.
8. A method of preparing a soft tissue filler for repairing or replacing tissue comprising admixing an acrylate/methacrylate copolymer with a physiologically acceptable suspending agent to form an injectable, biocompatible material.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the acrylate/methacrylate copolymer is a finely ground solid.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the finely ground solid is a powder.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the finely ground solid is a non-porous microbead.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the finely ground solid is a microsphere.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the finely ground solid has a diameter of from about less than 0.1 μm to about 10 μm.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent is resorbable.
15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent is a buffered physiological solution.
16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent comprises cross-linked sodium hyaluronate.
17. The method of claim 9 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent comprises a non cross-linked sodium hyaluronate.
18. The method of claim 9 , wherein the physiologically acceptable suspending agent comprises collagen.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the collagen is derived from natural sources or is synthetic.