ABSTRACT
T raditional biocompatibility focuses on the implant-host interface. But a human patient is an interconnected structure with various mechanisms permitting physical exchange among all o f its tissues and organs. O f particular interest in nanomedicine is the movement of solid bodies and particulate mat ter through the various systems of the body. Intact motile nanorobots that can travel purposively inside the human body (Chapter 8 and 9) and can avoid geometrical trapping, phagocytosis, and granulomatization can achieve indefinite persistence without clear ance by the natural immune system. The analysis here primarily concerns the fate of free-floating nanorobots (or their material ejecta or fragments), stationkeeping nanorobots such as internal commu nication (Section 7.3.2) or navigation (Section 8.3.3) networks, or motile nanorobots that have malfunctioned and lost their mobility, and are moving passively through the body or are being driven by cell-mediated processes.
