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A new coating for medical instruments is giving doctors a little bling in the operating room. You're not likely to see surgeons wearing diamond necklaces while they replace a knee, but they could be using an artificial joint coated in a diamond-like carbon material.

English researchers developed the coating for mechanical and biomedical uses. The material will not cause blood to clot when used on items to be implanted into patients. Also, bacteria will not grow on surfaces coated with the diamond-like carbon material.

Professor Joe Franks from Brunel University in West London, is part of the team behind the new uses for the material. "We've also developed coating that can be used for catheters and various medical implants that go through skin. The coating is important because it prevents colonization of the tissue by bacteria, such as the superbug MRSA," Franks says.

Diamond-like carbon was first produced in 1971. However, Franks and his team have developed more effective ways to coat items with the material. One of the benefits is items do not need to be superheated to be coated, allowing items made of plastic, metals, or ceramics to be used.

Currently, scientists are working on new ways to create the best coating for specific purposes. For example, the coating on an artificial knee would not be identical to the coating on an artificial artery.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Research presented at a conference of the Applied Physics and Technology Division of the Institute of Physics on Novel Applications of Surface Modification, Chester College, UK, Sept. 18-21, 2005

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