Bioceramics, Volume 9 contains a compilation of the papers presented at the Ninth International Symposium in Ceramics in Medicine which was held in Otsu, Japan in November 1996. Over 150 papers were submitted to this symposium from 19 countries and 120 contributed papers and 8 invited papers for panel discussion were accepted. The readers will get a good overview of the recent progress in this discipline. The variety of ceramics and fields of their clincal applications are steadily growing and this book will undoubtedly contribute to the progression of this research area. In this symposium, a panel discussion on current status and future trend of ceramics in medicine was held by invited speakers doing research on the next generation of ceramics. General sessions consisting of the contributed papers were classified according to the kind of materials so that active discussion could arise concerning the respective material between ceramic scientists and medical scientists.