"'Tis virtue not birth that makes us noble:" the role of noble metals in medical devices.
Gold, silver, platinum, and other noble metals are enigmatic with respect to their biological uses. On the one hand they are considered to be highly inert with excellent all-round biocompatibility and useful for electrodes and a variety of implanted and nonimplanted medical devices. On the other hand some noble-metal complexes are highly potent biologically. This column attempts to dispel some of the confusion.
Williams
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Clinical Engineering Department, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, UK.
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004869:Equipment Safety; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D008670:Metals / Q000145:classification* / Q000627:therapeutic use