Biodegradable radioactive implants for glaucoma filtering surgery produced by ion implantation

A biodegradable, β-emitting implant has been developed and successfully tested which prevents fresh intraocular pressure increase after glaucoma filtering surgery. Ion implantation has been used to load the polymeric implants with the β-emitter 32P. The influence of ion implantation and gamma sterilisation on degradation and 32P-fixation behavior has been studied by ion beam and chemical analysis. Irradiation effects due to the applied ion fluence (1015 ions/cm2) and gamma dose (25 kGy) are found to be tolerable.