According to the US research company Nanomarkets, which specialises in advanced materials and technologies, the world demand for polymers for medical applications could reach 3.5 billion dollars by 2018, compared to the current level of approximately 2.3 billion. In this context, plastic implants could reach a value of 1.6 billion, while diagnostic systems could top 1 billion.
The polymers primarily used are acrylics, styrene and polypropylene, while materials with superior surface comfort are likely to find increasingly broad-ranging applications.