Role of medical materials, both in implant and surface applications, in immune response and in resistance to infection.

The term biocompatibility encompasses many aspects of the behaviour of a material in the body including its effects on the host and the host's effects on it. Two aspects of biocompatibility which are difficult to predict are sensitivity reactions and infections. These reactions are very dependent on the host and other factors beyond the control of the testing laboratory. Much of the information on the problems of sensitivity reactions and infection rates in the actual use of the biomaterials and devices comes from case reports in the literature. This article will focus on review papers and a synthesis of reports and does not contain a thorough citation of the literature.