Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) has emerged as a powerful technique for engineering biocompatible, conformal coatings that enable precise control of drug release from medical devices and delivery platforms. This systematic review synthesizes experimental evidence on PECVD-derived coatings used for controlled drug delivery, with a focus on structure property function relationships, biocompatibility, and translational readiness. Across applications such as drug-eluting stents, orthopedic implants, wound dressings, ophthalmic devices, and particulate carriers, PECVD enabled nanometer-to micrometer-scale control of film thickness, crosslinking density, surface energy, and functional group content, which in turn allowed modulation of burst release, release duration, and responsiveness to pH, enzymes, or redox environment. Many coatings demonstrated favourable cytocompatibility and hemocompatibility, with several studies also incorporating antimicrobial or cell-adhesive functionalities into the same layer. However, most investigations were limited to short-term in vitro assays or small animal models, and process descriptions were often insufficient to ensure reproducibility or scale-up. Long-term stability, chronic tissue response, and comprehensive regulatory-grade characterization remain incompletely addressed. Overall, PECVD offers a flexible, substrate-agnostic route to multifunctional biocompatible coatings for controlled drug release, but translation will require standardized reporting of plasma parameters, systematic in vivo safety and durability testing, and integration of PECVD within quality-by-design and Good Manufacturing Practice frameworks.
Sharma et al. (Fri,) studied this question.