Biocompatibility of Metal Alloys as Medical Devices

The early metal alloys used as medical devices were stainless steel (SS 316L ) and cobalt-chromium (CoCr 605L), and till today are still popular. The corrosion of metal alloys release toxins into the body which might trigger inflammation. The basic requirement for material for medical devices including stents is that it be biocompatible. The cytotoxicity test is the first step in identifying the harmful effects of a material. This research is to examine the cytoxicityof SS 316L and CoCr 605L for medical device material. The test used fibroblast cell line (LPPT UGM) and were treated for 24 hours with different concentrations (100,1000,10000 μg/mL) of SS 316L and CoCr 605L (Otocompo, Sweden) in powder form. The statistical analysis showed there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the number of the viability cells among the three concentrations from the two different materials. It is concluded that concentrations of SS 316L and CoCr 605L showed no indication in eliciting acute cytotoxicity.