Long-term effects of carbon fibre on soft tissues

Parallel with the development of carbon fibre as an implant material(Jenkinsetal. 1977; Forsteretal. 1978; Jenkins and McKibbin 1980) the present study was set up to investigate any long-term, undesirable side-effects which the continuous presence of this material might produce, especially any evidence of carcinogenic activity. As carbon fibre tends to break up after long-term implantation, and as tissue reactions to the solid and powdered forms of a material may be quite different (Oppenheimer et al. 1958; Wroblewski 1979), the experiments were conducted with the carbon in two distinct physical states. In the first two experiments solid strands of carbon fibres were implanted, but in the third a powder was used.