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Engineering Commons

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Utah State University

Cells and Materials

1996

Biodeterioration; silicone rubber; C. albicans

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Initial Biodeterioration Of Silicone Rubber By C. Albicans And C. Aropicalis Strains Isolated From Voice Prostheses, H. C. Van Der Mei, B. Van De Belt-Gritter, F. Dijk, H. J. Busscher Jan 1996

Initial Biodeterioration Of Silicone Rubber By C. Albicans And C. Aropicalis Strains Isolated From Voice Prostheses, H. C. Van Der Mei, B. Van De Belt-Gritter, F. Dijk, H. J. Busscher

Cells and Materials

Silicone rubber voice prostheses m patients after total laryngectomy become rapidly colonized by a biofilm, consisting of yeasts and bacteria. An especially troublesome feature of these biofilms is the ingrowth into the silicone rubber by colonizing yeasts. Microcolonies of ingrowing yeasts have been frequently observed on explanted voice prostheses after 3-4 months use. Incubation of silicone rubber samples in a modified Robbins device with a culture of Candida tropicalis, isolated from a Groningen button voice prosthesis, while passing the yeasts through a cycle of feasts (7 days) and famine (also 7 days) demonstrated, by electron microscopy, the onset of the …