Blog (November 2017)
08-11-17
Marvellous Medical Materials: Stainless Steel - Part One
In this series of blog posts, Sarah Wilkes (Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Institute) gets over-excited about the ways that materials like silicone rubber and silver impact on our health and wellbeing. This post is one of a two-parter that explores the gradual historical domination of stainless steel in surgical tools and medical implants, its health risks and rewards from the point of view of a variety of actors (including the patient undergoing hip replacement, the airplane passenger and the welder) and its role in infection control in the modern hospital. More