A CONSENSUS Development Conference on the Clinical Applications of Biomaterials was held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Nov 1 to 3, 1982.
Consensus Development Conferences at the NIH bring together biomedical researchers, practicing physicians, consumers, representatives of industry, and public interest groups and others to conduct scientific evaluations on the safety and efficacy of medical technologies. Those technologies may be drugs, devices, or procedures.
During this conference, medical uses of biomaterials, the process by which biomaterials are introduced into the health care system, and the safety and effectiveness of biomaterials presently used in the practice of medicine were evaluated.
Since the early 1950s, devices made with synthetic or natural biomaterials have been introduced into the human body at an ever-increasing rate. Initially focused on life-threatening situations, the clinical use of biomaterials has been extended progressively to treatment or support of a vast array of bodily functions. Biomaterials