Formation and Elution of Toxic Compounds from Sterilized Medical Products: Methylenedianiline Formation in Polyurethane

Abstract

The formation of a toxic and carcinogenic compound, methylene-dianiline (MDA), in sterilized medical use polyurethane (PU) is discussed. Due to good biocompatibility and biostability, PU is widely used for blood-containing devices. There are two types of PU currently available for medical use. One is chain-extended thermoplastic PU, the other is thermosetting PU used for potting material connecting fibers and modules in artificial dialyzers and plasma separators. Both gamma-ray irradiation and autoclave sterilization are predominantly used for the sterilization of these devices. MDA formation in sterilized PUs by gamma-ray irradiation and by autoclave treatment is compared. The Delany clause in the USA prohibits the manufacture of medical devices producing any toxic compound during fabrication and sterilization, therefore, the formation and elution of MDA and other toxic compounds should be seriously considered. Although MDA formation at a concentration of a few to a few hundred ppb in autoclaved chain-extended thermoplastic PU has been reported, there have been no papers describing MDA formation in autoclaved thermosetting PU potting material, or describing MDA formation in gamma-ray irradiated chain-extended thermoplastic PU and thermosetting PU. We elected to determine whether MDA was in fact produced in PUs sterilized by gamma-ray irradiation or by autoclave sterilization. Our objective was to estimate the risk factor to the human patients or recipient. Our conclusion is to confirm which sterilization of gamma-ray or autoclave is more appropriate. No formation of MDA was observed in autoclaved thermosetting PU potting material at 1210°C for 60 min. A few ppm of MDA was formed in irradiated potting material. MDA formation increased with increasing irradiation doses. MDA formed in irradiated potting material at 2.5 Mrad (less than one ppm) is not a significant risk to the recipient. The estimated cancer causing risk factor when absorbing one mg MDA/kg body weight/day is 0.29. Twenty-nine persons per 100 persons exhibit a cancer potential. More importantly, our experimental evidence indicated that serum extracts from irradiated potting material contained unknown compounds other than MDA. The presence of these compounds is considerably more significant and toxic. When tested, these compounds proved to be mutagenic in the absence of metabolic activity, thus promoting a need to identify and study further. Compounds indicating mutagenicity increased with increasing irradiation. Small amounts of mutagenic compounds were determined in extract from autoclaved potting material, smaller than that by gamma-ray irradiation. Therefore, autoclave sterilization is more appropriate, providing materials can withstand the process. Mutagenicity and cytotoxicity tests of the solvent extract from thermoplastic PU are also discussed, as is a pretreatment method of liquid-liquid extraction and the solid-phase extraction of serum MDA prior to HPLC analysis.