1. A medical device that comprises a polymeric material, wherein the polymeric material comprises:
a main chain;
a plurality of crystallizable side chains; and
a plurality of heavy atoms attached to the polymer, the heavy atoms being present in an amount that is effective to render the polymer inherently radiopaque.
2. The medical device of claim 1 in which the polymeric material comprises a second polymer in admixture with the inherently radiopaque polymer.
3. The medical device of claim 1 in which the inherently radiopaque polymer is bioresorbable.
4. The medical device of claim 1 that is configured to be deliverable to a body cavity of a mammal.
5. The medical device of claim 4 that is configured to be deliverable by injection or by catheter.
6. The medical device of claim 4 that comprises an embolotherapy product, the embolotherapy product comprising at least a portion of the inherently radiopaque polymer.
7. The medical device of claim 6 in which at least a portion of the inherently radiopaque polymer in the embolotherapy product is formed into at least one configuration selected from the group consisting of a rod, a particle, or a sheet.
8. The medical device of claim 4 in which the polymeric material has a melting point in the range of about 30\xb0 C. to about 80\xb0 C.
9. The medical device of claim 8 in which the polymeric material is configured to flow at a temperature above the melting point.
10. The medical device of claim 9 in which the polymeric material has a viscosity in the range of about 50 cP to about 500 cP at the temperature above the melting point.
11. The medical device of claim 9 in which the polymeric material has a viscosity in the range of about 500 cP to about 5,000 cP at the temperature above the melting point.
12. The medical device of claim 9 in which the polymeric material has a viscosity in the range of about 5,000 cP to about 250,000 cP at the temperature above the melting point.
13. The medical device of claim 9 in which the polymeric material has a viscosity in the range of about 250,000 cP to about 1,000,000 cP at the temperature above the melting point.
14. The medical device of claim 9 in which the polymeric material comprises a crystalline region and a non-crystalline region at a temperature below the body temperature of the mammal.
15. The medical device of claim 14 in which the non-crystalline region has a glass transition temperature that is higher than the body temperature.
16. The medical device of claim 14 in which the non-crystalline region has a glass transition temperature that is lower than the body temperature.
17. The medical device of claim 9 in which the polymeric material is configured to form a solid mass upon delivery to the body cavity, the solid mass at least partically conforming to an interior dimension of the body cavity.
18. The medical device of claim 17 in which the polymeric material comprises an excipient selected from the group consisting of a photopolymerizable material, a blood reactive substance and a nucleating agent.
19. The medical device of claim 17 in which the solid mass retains a preformed shape.
20. The medical device of claim 1 that further comprises an effective amount of at least one therapeutic agent.
21. The medical device of claim 20 in which the therapeutic agent is selected from the group consisting of a chemotherapeutic agent, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, a steroidal anti-inflammatory, and a wound healing agent.
22. The medical device of claim 1 that further comprises an effective amount of at least one magnetic resonance enhancing agent.
23. The medical device of claim 1 that is configured to be deliverable to a skeletal tissue.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for non-contact sensing of the integrity of a structure, comprising:
remotely detecting light that has been reflected off of or scattered from the structure; and
analyzing the detected light to determine the structural integrity of the structure.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing step comprises determining the intensity and polarization of detected ambient light.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein one or more polarization filters are used to filter the reflected light before it is analyzed.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the analyzing step further comprises resolving one or more peaks in the power spectrum of the detected light.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein resolving one or more peaks in the power spectrum of the detected light comprises determining the frequency of the peaks.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the light is detected over time, and the analyses thereof are stored, wherein stored analyses are compared.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the comparisons are used to detect gradual structural changes in the structure.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the structure is scanned so as to survey different areas of the structure.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing step comprises creating a pixel-by-pixel frequency map of the scanned areas.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising actively illuminating the structure with polarized light so as to enhance the results.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing step comprises determining whether there is a fire in the building.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the detected light is analyzed for characteristic acoustic emanations of a fire.
13. The method of claim 11 wherein the detected light is analyzed for frequency content indicative of fire andor the extent and size of a fire.
14. The method of claim 11 wherein the magnitude of sensed building vibrations is indicative of the location of the fire.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the fire is located close to the location of the greatest magnitude vibrations.
16. The method of claim 11 wherein the detected light is analyzed for high frequency cutoff indicative of a volume of the fire.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing step comprises determining whether the building structure has degraded.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein the detected light is analyzed for changes in damping of vibration by the building structure.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein a decrease in damping is equated with structural degradation.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the detected light is analyzed for frequency content indicative of structural degradation.